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29 



THE 



STORY OF JESUS. 



BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



LIFE AND WORK, THE WALKS AND TALKS 
OF CHRIST. 

ADAPTED TO YOUNG AND OLD. 



BY . 

REV. RICHARD B:' COOK, D.D. 



ILLUSTRATED. 




BALTIMORE : 

R. H. WOODWARD AND COMPANY. 

1880. 



Mb 



COPYRIGHT, 1889. 

BY REV. RICHARD B. COOK, D.D. 

AU, RIGHTS RESERVED. 



PNtLADFCPHIA: 
THE JAS. B. ROf.irsKRS PRINTING CO. 







TO 

THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH 

WHOM HE SERVES AS 

PASTOR, 

TO WHOM HE IS GREATEY INDEBTED 

FOR INNUMERABLE FAVORS, 

AND 

TO WHOSE SYMPATHIES, CO-OPERATION AND PRAYERS 

HE OWES, UNDER GOD, 

WHATEVER MEASURE OF SUCCESS 

HAS ATTENDED 

HIS MINISTRY AMONG THEM, 

THIS VOEUME IS 

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

BY THE 

AUTHOR. 




2 i 



"BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



T N offering this work to the public, it is not the thought 
"*- of the author that he can contribute anything addi- 
tional to the already rich store of Biblical knowledge 
concerning the life of Christ, but rather to collect from 
various sources into one volume some of this wealth, and 
to publish in popular form and in order of time the 
events in the life of Jesus, so that there may be within 
the reach of all an inexpensive volume, with numerous 
and appropriate cuts, to supply the long felt need of 
those who may not have the means to purchase, nor the 
time to read, the larger and more costly illustrated lives of 
our Saviour. 

In pursuance of this purpose the author has followed 
the excellent Harmony of Dr. G. W. Clark ; and also has 
availed himself of the learning and research of Geikie, 
Farrar, Kdersheim and others who have written the life 
of Christ, and also of the "Bible Work" of Dr. J. G. 
Butler, and of the unequaled Commentaries of Dr. Lyman 
Abbott, and the popular Notes of Barnes ; and now pre- 
sents to Bible-readers generally, to Sunday-school teach- 
ers, to aged Christians, and to the young people especially, 
The Story of Jesus. R. B. C. 



TABIvK OK CONTENTS. 



BOOKS. 

BOOK PAGE 

1. EVENTS PRECEDING THE BIRTH OF CHRIST I 

2. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO HIS APPEARANCE IN THE 

TEMPLE 25 

A period of about thirteen years, from B.C. 5 to a.d. 8. 

3. FROM THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST TO THE FIRST 

PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC EIFE OF OUR EORD 77 

A period of about one year, from a.d. 26 to April a.d. 27. 

4. FROM THE FIRST PASSOVER IN CHRIST'S PUBLIC MINISTRY 

TO THE SECOND PASSOVER 117 

A period of one year, from April a.d. 27 to April a.d. 28. 

5. FROM THE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC UFE OF 

JESUS TO THE THIRD PASSOVER 197 

A period of one year, from April a.d. 28 to April a.d. 29. 

6. FROM THE THIRD PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF 

JESUS TO THE ENSUING FEAST OF TABERNACEES .... 287 
A period of six months, from April a.d. 29 to October a.d. 29. 

7. FROM THE FEAST OF TABERNACEES TO THE ARRIYAE OF 

JESUS AT BETHANY, SIX DAYS BEFORE THE FOURTH OR 

EAST PASSOVER IN OUR EORD'S PUBEIC EIFE 321 

A period of six months, less six days ; from October a.d. 29 to April a.d. 30. 

8. THE EAST PASSOVER WEEK 407 

From April 2d to April 8th a.d. 30. 

9. THE MINISTRY OF THE EORD FROM HIS RESURRECTION TO 

HIS ASCENSION 511 

A period of forty days, from April 9th a.d. 30 to May 18th a.d. 30. 

vii 



TABLE OK CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 
I. 
II. 
III. 

IV. 
V. 



VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 



XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 



CHAPTERS 
BOOK I. 

PAGB 

The Land, the Man and the Book i 

The Family Record 5 

The Angel in the Temple 10 

The Hand-maid of the Lord 17 

The Birth of the Baptist 21 

BOOK II. 

The Babe of Bethlehem 27 

The Child in the TempeE 36 

The Star in the Bast 42 

The Flight and the Massacre 49 

The Boyhood of Jesus 55 

The Doctors and the Chied 65 

BOOK III. 

The Forerunner 79 

The Baptism of Jesus 86 

The Conflict with the Devie 91 

The Testimony of John 98 

The First Disciples 101 

An Israelite Indeed . 106 

Water Turned to Wine no 

ix 



X 



CHAPTER 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 



XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XIv. 

XLI. 

XLII. 

Xlylll. 

XLIV. 

XLV. 

XLVI. 

XIvVII. 

XLVIII. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
BOOK IV. 

PAGE 

Purification of the Temple 119 

The Evening Visitor 12 ^ 

The Baptist Imprisoned j 2 8 

The Woman at the Weee 133 

Rejected at Nazareth I4I 

Removae to Capernaum I4 y 

Miracees at Capernaum ^3 

Sermon on the Mount — A I59 

Sermon on the Mount — B ^ 

Sermon on the Mount — C ^9 

Sermon on the Mount — D I73 

A Leper Heaeed jyy 

The Paraeytic Cured ^2 

Matthew's Caee and Feast j86 

Jairus' Daughter 190 

"Who Touched Me?" 193 

BOOK V. 

The House of Mercy 199 

"My Father Worketh Hitherto" 204 

Eating and Heaeing on the Sabbath-Day . . 207 

The Tweeve Chosen 212 

The Sermon on the Peain 218 

The Centurion's Servant 221 

The Widow's Son 224 

The Message of John to Jesus 227 

The Doomed Cities 232 

The Precious Ointment 237 

Jesus and Beeezebub 243 

Parabee of the Sower 250 

The Tempest Stieeed 257 

The Demoniac of Gadara 261 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XLIX. The Twelve Sent Forth 267 

L. The Baptist Beheaded 273 

LI. The Loaves and the Fishes 277 

LII. Walking on the Water 280 

LIU. The Bread of Life 284 

BOOK VI. 

LIV. Unwashed Hands 289 

LV. The Woman of Canaan 293 

LVI. The Four Thousand Fed 295 

LVII. "Art Thou the Christ?" 300 

LVIII. The Transfiguration 306 

LIX. The Demoniac Boy 310 

LX. Who Shale Be Greatest? 313 

LXL The Journey Towards Death 317 

BOOK VII. 

LXII. The Feast of Tabernacles 323 

LXIII. Teaching in the Temple 328 

LXIV. The Seventy Sent Forth 334 

LXV. The Good Samaritan 338 

LXVI. Hypocrisy Exposed 344 

LXVII. The Light of the World 352 

LXVIII. Ministry in Perea 359 

LXIX. The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son 364 

LXX. The Rich Man and Lazarus 369 

LXXI. Lazarus Raised from the Dead 375 

LXXII. The Ten Lepers and the Coming of Christ . 381 

LXXIII. Parables on Prayer 386 

LXXIV. Jesus and the Young 390 

LXXV. Ambition of James and John 397 

LXXVI. Zaccheus and Bartimeus 400 



Xll 

CHAPTER 

LXXVIL 

LXXVIII. 

LXXIX. 

LXXX. 

LXXXI. 

LXXXII. 

LXXXIII. 

LXXXIV. 

LXXXV. 

LXXXVI. 

LXXXVII. 

LXXXVIIL 

LXXXIX. 

xc. 

XCI. 

XCIL 

XCIII. 

XCIV. 

xcv. 

XCVI. 

XCVII. 

XCVIII. 



XCIX. 

c. 

CI. 

en. 
cm. 

CIV. 

CV. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
BOOK VIII. 

PaGB 

Christ's Public Entry into Jerusalem . . . 409 

The Traders Driven from the Temple . . 416 

The Two Sons and the Wicked Husbandmen 419 

Marriage of the King's Son 423 

Last Words to an Impenitent People . . . 426 

Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold .... 432 

The Ten Virgins and the Ten Talents . . 438 

The Supper at Bethany 444 

The Lord's Supper Instituted 450 

Valedictory Discourses 453 

The Agony in Gethsemane and the Arrest 460 

Jesus Before Annas 466 

Examined by Caiaphas 470 

Peter's Denial 473 

The Trial Before the Sanhedrin 476 

Brought Before Pilate 481 

Sent to Herod 487 

Before Pilate Again 489 

The Scourging 493 

Journey to the Cross 496 

The Crucifixion 499 

The Burial 505 

BOOK IX. 

The Resurrection 513 

The Lord Appears 516 

The Walk to Emmaus 519 

Jesus in the midst 522 

Jesus in Galilee 5 2 5 

The Meeting on the Mountain 528 

The Ascension 53° 



, 



LIST OK ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

i. " Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock" iv 

2. Mountains round Jerusalem vi 

3. Map of Palestine viii 

4. Chapel on the Site of Calvary xviii 

5. Virgin and Child xx 

6. The Star in the East , 1 

7. Shrine of the Annunciation 9 

8. Jewish Priest 12 

9. The Holy of Holies in the Temple 15 

10. Hebron 16 

11. Angels Appear to the Shepherds 24 

12. She Laid Him in a Manger 26 

13. An Eastern Khan ,...., 30 

14. Convent of the Nativity 33 

15. Crypt under the Church of the Nativity, and Manger . 35 

16. An Offering of Doves 37 

17. Presenting the First-Born in the Temple 40 

18. Bethlehem 41 

19. Shepherds Watching the Flocks by Night 44 

20. Jerusalem 46 

21. Eastern Khan at Night 48 

22. The Flight into Egypt 52 

23. Looking Down on Nazareth 56 

24. Mount Carmel 59 

xiii 



xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

25. A Street in Nazareth 61 

26. A Carpenter's Shop at Nazareth 63 

27. Interior of a Greek Church 64 

28. The Ark of the Synagogue 67 

29. Eastern Asses and Driver 72 

30. Map 76 

31. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand 78 

32. On the Jordan 83 

33. Wilderness of Judea 85 

34. Plain of the Jordan 87 

35. Then was Jesus led up 93 

36. Wailing Place of the Jews at Jerusalem 97 

37. The Dead Sea 105 

38. Shores of the Lake Gennesareth 107 

39. Cana of Galilee 111 

40. Fill the Waterpots 113 

41. Washing Hands in the East 115 

42. Street in Jerusalem 116 

43. Hills Overlooking the Sea of Galilee 118 

44. Money-Changers 121 

45. Jesus and Nicodemus 125 

46. The Plain of Jericho • 127 

47. Antioch in Syria 131 

48. Nablous, or Neapolis, the Ancient Shechem 132 

49. Jacob's Well 134 

50. '* Whosoever Drinketh of the Water that I shall give 

Him, shall never Thirst" 139 

51. An Ancient Well 140 

52. Sidon • 144 

53. Site of Capernaum 146 



LIS T OF ILL US TRA TIONS. x V 

PAGE 

54. Fish of the Sea of Galilee 151 

55. "We have Toiled all Night.'' 152 

56. Sea of Galilee 156 

57. Jerusalem from the Road to Bethany 158 

58. Ruins of Kerazeh or Chorazin 168 

59. Pharisee Praying 171 

60. Ruins of Theatre at Ephesus 172 

61. Lepers Outside the Gate 178 

62. An Oriental at Prayer 181 

63. Outside Staircase of an Eastern House 183 

64. Court of an Eastern House 185 

65. Storm on the Sea of Galilee .189 

66. " Lord, Save Us, We Perish.'' 198 

67. Pool of Bethesda 201 

68. Walls of Damascus 203 

69. Tarsus 211 

70. Ruins of Tyre 212 

71. Patmos. . 215 

72. Ephesus 217 

73. Mach^rus, the Scene of John's Imprisonment 229 

74. Site of Bethsaida 234 

75. Ruins of Cesarea 236 

76. Reclining at Table 238 

77. Christ and Mary Magdalene 240 

78. Tares of the Gospel 242 

79. Ruins of the Site of Nineveh 247 

80. Mustard Plant 249 

81. The Sower 251 

82. Sir, Didst Thou not Sow Good Seed ? 254 

83. Bind Them in Bundles 256 



XVI LIST OF ILL US TRA TIONS. 

PAGE 

84. Street called Straight 260 

85. Quarentania 266 

86. Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt? 281 

87. Ruins of Ephesus 286 

88. Disciples and Samaritans 288 

89. The Four Thousand Fed 296 

90. Ruins of C^esarea Philippi 303 

91. Mount Hermon 305 

92. The Unmerciful Servant 312 

93. Underground Vaults of the Temple Enclosure and Nel- 

son's Arch 320 

94. Robbers on the Road to Jericho 322 

95. Pool of Siloam 330 

96. Women Grinding 337 

97. " Mary hath Chosen the Good Part '•' 342 

98. The Fatted Calf 343 

99. " They All Began to Make Excuse " 351 

100. The Good Shepherd . 356 

101. An Eastern Sheep-fold 358 

102. " Go Out and Compel Them to Come In " 362 

103. The Prodigal Son 367 

104. The Rich Glutton and Lazarus the Beggar 371 

105. Bethany 374 

106. Pharisee and Publican at Prayer 387 

107. "Suffer Little Children to Come unto Me." 391 

108. The Lost Sheep Brought Home 396 

109. He Began to Wash His Disciples' Feet 406 

no. The Way of the Cross 408 

in. Christ's Public Entry into Jerusalem 410 

112. Monte Christo 415 



LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS. xvii 

PAGE 

113. Thou Wicked and Slothful Servant 437 

114. Behold the Bridegroom Cometh 438 

115. The Wise Virgins 439 

116. The Foolish Virgins 440 

117. Lord, Open to us 442 

118. Garden of Gethsemane 449 

119. The Arrest in the Garden 459 

120. View in the Garden of Gethsemane 461 

121. The Betrayal 464 

122. Behold Your King 483 

123. Jesus Sinks Beneath the Weight of his Cross 497 

124. The Crucifixion 500 

125. The Vail of the Temple Rent 503 

126. The Body Taken Down from the Cross 507 

127. They Went and Made the Sepulchre Sure 510 

128. Church of the Holy Sepulchre 512 

129. The Doubt of Thomas 524 

130. The Ascension ... 532 



BOOK FIRST. 



EVENTS PRECEDING THE BIRTH OF 
CHRIST. 




VIRGIN AND CHILD. 




THE STAR IN THE EAST. 



THE STORY OF JESUS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LAND, THE MAN, AND THE BOOK. 
IvtTKE i : 1-4. 

IN Asia, east of the Mediterranean Sea, lies a country 
that has become, through one circumstance, the 
most famous, as well as the most sacred, land 
of all the earth. That country is the aucient Canaan, 
which God gave to Abraham and his children ; the 
Promised Land to the Israelites wandering in the 
Arabian desert ; and the Holy Land, , to-day, to Jew and 
Gentile, Mohammedan and Christian. 

This country, though small and degraded, has been 
lifted to a position exalted above all historic lands, be- 
cause within its narrow limits occurred the scenes and 

1 



2 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

incidents which comprise the life and story of Jesus 
the Christ, 

The life of the Son of man was spent in this epitome 
of all lands, for all peoples and for all time. Jesus was 
ever, as he is now, the friend of the lowly and of the 
young. It is not, however, only by these that he has 
been esteemed and exalted, but by the greatest intel- 
lects among men, who have done him honor, and have 
accorded to the Bible, which contains his life, its 
rightful place of pre-eminence as the Book of books. 
Such men as Shakspere, Milton, Bacon, Kepler, Gal- 
ileo and Newton exalt the name of Jesus above all 
others. 

Of the beautiful testimonies to Jesus furnished by 
friend and foe, we give the following : Jean Paul 
Richter tells us that "the life of Christ concerns him 
who, being the holiest among the mighty, the mightiest 
among the holy, lifted, with his pierced hand, empires 
off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out 
of its channel, and still governs the ages. ' ' 

"Jesus Christ," says the "exquisite genius," Herder, 
( ( is, in the noblest and most perfect sense, the realized 
ideal of humanity." 

And the intellectual and learned De Wette says : 
" This only I know, that there is salvation in no name 
save in the name of Jesus Christ, the Crucified, and that 
nothing loftier offers itself to humanity than the God- 
man had realized in him." 

Rousseau bears this beautiful testimony to the worth 
of Jesus : "How petty are the books of the philoso- 
phers, with all their pomp, compared with the gospels ! 
Can it be that writings at once so sublime and so simple 
are the work of men ? Men do not invent like this ; 



THE LAND, THE MAN, AND THE BOOK. 3 

and the facts respecting Socrates, which no one doubts, 
are not so well attested as those about Jesus Christ. . . 
Yes, if the death of Socrates be that of a sage, the life 
and death of Jesus are those of a God. ' ' 

Napoleon, called the Great, was no active friend of 
Jesus, and yet, when in exile in St. Helena, this man 
of gigantic intellect expressed freely his conviction of 
the superiority of Christ. "I think I understand some- 
thing of human nature," said he, "and I tell you, all 
these [the heroes of antiquity] were men, and I am a 
man ; but not one is like him. Jesus Christ was more 
than man. Alexander, Charlemagne and myself founded 
great empires ; but upon what did the creations of our 
genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His 
empire upon love, and to this very day millions would 
die for him. . . . The gospel is no mere book, but a 
living creature, with a vigor, a power, which conquer 
all that oppose it. Here lies the Book of books upon 
the table ; I do not tire of reading it, and do so daily 
with equal pleasure. The soul, charmed with the beauty 
of the gospel, is no longer its own ; God possesses it 
entirely. He directs its thoughts and faculties ; it is His. 
What a proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ ! Yet in this 
absolute sovereignty He has but one aim, — the spiritual 
perfection of the individual, the purification of his con- 
science, his union with what is true, the salvation of his 
soul. Men wonder at the conquests of Alexander; but 
here is a Conqueror who draws men to himself for their 
highest good, who unites to himself, incorporates into 
himself not a nation, but the whole human race." 

It is not, however, with profane writers, whether 
modern or ancient, but rather with the testimony of 
the sacred writers that we have to do at present. 



4 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

In the Old Testament we find that Jesus is the 
burden of prophecy. Moses and the prophets, as well 
as the Psalms, foretold His coming. He is the promised 
Messiah of the lineage of Abraham and David, who 
is to sit on David's throne and rule over Israel, 
These prophecies occupied the minds of the Jewish 
people 1800 years ago, and they were looking for the 
coming of the promised One. Some thought He was 
to be a great earthly conqueror like Alexander, who 
would free them from the Roman power that held 
them in subjection ; but others, like the aged Simeon 
and Anna in the temple, looked for a spiritual 
Teacher, Redeemer and King. There was also an ex- 
pectation at the same time, all over the world, that 
some great personage would arise in the East, to have 
universal empire. This general expectation is men- 
tioned by the Roman historians, Suetonius and Taci- 
tus, and the Jewish writers, Josephus and Philo. 

And now, while we follow the story of Jesus in the 
New Testament, or rather in the four gospels of Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke and John, which were written, "that 
thou mightest know the certainty of those things," we 
shall find proof after proof, from first to last, that Jesus 
is the Christ, the Desire of all nations and the Saviour 
of the world. The first evidence we have after the 
genealogy of Christ, which is traced from Adam 
through Abraham and David to Joseph and Mary, is 
found in the circumstances connected with the birth 
of John the Baptist. Beginning with this event, we 
shall be able to find abundant evidence of the Messiah- 
ship of Jesus from the manger to the cross, and from 
his burial to his ascension. 



THE FAMIL Y RECORD. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FAMILY RECORD. 

Matt, i : 1-17 ; Luke iii : 23-38 ; John i : 1-14. 

JESUS, in Hebrew the Messiah, and in Greek the 
Christ, which means the Anointed, though possess- 
ing a divine nature, was also of earthly parentage. 
As by .the anointing with oil, kings and priests were set 
apart to their office, so Jesus is the anointed of God. 
In his human nature Jesus, was a descendant of Adam, 
the father of the human race, and of Abraham, the 
father of the faithful, and "the beauteous model of 
an eastern prince," and of David, the sweet singer of 
Israel, and God's chosen as Israel's king. The most 
illustrious persons, u the most eminent for piety and 
the most renowned for their excellencies of all men 
of antiquity, sacred or profane," were ancestors of 
Jesus ; and ' ' though his birth and life were humble, 
yet, they who regard an illustrious descent as of 
value, may here find all that is to be admired in an- 
cestral piety, purity, patriotism, splendor, dignity and 
renown. ' ' 

The genealogy of Jesus is recorded by Matthew and 
Luke. The design in giving it is to prove that Jesus 
was descended from king David, but both evangelists 
go farther back — Matthew to Abraham, Luke to 
Adam. We may not be able to harmonize these tables 
with the Old Testament. But the Jews doubtless 
could ; for they had kept at Jerusalem family records 
or genealogical tables, from which, no doubt, Matthew 
and Luke copied. Such tables are mentioned by 



6 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Josephus, the eminent Jewish historian, who lived 
since Christ, and who declares that he could trace 
his own descent in the tribe of Levi in the public 
register. These tables, as given by the two evangel- 
ists, were ' not disputed by the Jews, who did not 
deny the royal lineage of Jesus, nor point out any in- 
accuracies in them. The Jews of that day and also 
the pagan writers opposed to Christianity could easily 
have proved them incorrect, had they been so. But 
this they failed to do. The fact that Jesus was the 
son of David, according to the flesh, was often stated 
during his life and never denied. The object of the 
evangelists, as we have said, was to prove to the 
Jews that Jesus was descended from David. Since 
the Jews of that day accepted the table and were sat- 
isfied with the proof, we may safely conclude that 
the record is correct. 

There are some differences in the tables given by 
the two evangelists. From Abraham to David they 
are alike, but from David to Christ they are different. 
The Jews must have understood this difference, and 
if the gospel writers had contradicted each other, or 
stated anything but the truth, they would have been 
exposed. The view generally taken for the reconcilia- 
tion of these difficulties is that the two evangelists 
have given two separate lines of descent from David, 
and two distinct tables ; that Luke furnishes us with 
the family record of Mary, while Matthew gives that 
of Joseph. Joseph not being the father of Jesus, it 
was necessary to show that Mary also was descended 
from David ; her name is not given because this was 
not Jewish custom. By her marriage with Joseph, 
however, Jesus, her child, became the legal heir of 



THE FAMIL Y RECORD. 7 

David, but he was really David's son, because David 
was Mary's ancestor. Thus by both parents— Joseph 
and Mary — was Jesus descended from David, and was 
therefore David's heir. Matthew wrote for the Jews, 
by whom the legal descent was always traced in the 
male line ; but Luke wrote for the Gentiles, to prove 
that Christ was of the seed of the woman, hence he 
traces through his mother, back to Adam, his nat- 
ural descent. 

Dr. J. B. Lightfoot says : " The genealogies coin- 
cide until David, when Matthew takes the reigning 
line, whereas Luke takes the younger and inferior 
line by David's son, Nathan. They concur, indeed, 
in Salathiel and Zorobabel, at the time of the cap- 
tivity, but then diverge again, and even at the close 
the difference is maintained ; for Matthew makes 
Joseph the son of Jacob, whereas Luke represents 
him as the son of Heli, or Eli. He could not have 
been naturally the son of both these persons ; and the 
essential difference in the two lines of descent allows 
no satisfactory solution in the idea that Jacob and 
Heli are different names for the same person. They 
are obviously two different genealogies from the com- 
mon ancestor, David. This being the case, there 
can be little doubt that the genealogy of Matthew is 
that of Joseph, and the one of Luke that of Mary, 
the former being the legal and the latter the real 
genealogy of Jesus. Indeed, Luke seems to have in- 
dicated his meaning as clearly as could be, consist- 
ently with the absence of a woman's name in a pedi- 
gree, by distinguishing the real from the legal gene- 
alogy in a parenthetical remark, 'Jesus being (as was 
supposed) the son of Joseph {but in reality) the son 



8 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

of Heli,' or his grandson, by the mother's side ; for 
so the ellipsis should be supplied. Furthermore, 
Mary is always called by the Jews ' the daughter of 
Heli.' The conclusion, then, is that Jesus was, in 
the most perfect sense, a descendant of David, not 
only by law in the royal line of kings through his 
reputed father, but by direct personal descent through 
his mother." 

It is remarkable that while the family records were 
kept amid all the vicissitudes of the Jewish nation, 
until the Son of man came, they entirely disappeared 
soon afterwards, having been probably lost when the 
temple was destroyed and the nation scattered ; so 
that since then the Jews are unable to trace the pedi- 
gree of any one Israelite who might claim to be their 
promised and still expected Messiah. "Not only is 
the proof according to these public tables of descent 
incontestable, that Jesus is the Christ, but it is now 
put beyond the power of man to prove that any other 
person is the Jewish Messiah." 

But Jesus the Christ was of a parentage still more 
illustrious. He was divine as well as human. Not 
only was he to inherit the throne of David, but his 
reign is to be forever, and to his kingdom there will be 
no end. The announcement made to Mary, the mother 
of our Lord, by the angel was: "The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee : therefore the holy thing which 
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 
Jesus himself, in commenting upon the Psalmist's 
words : "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on 
my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot- 
stool," says, "If David then call him Lord, how is 



THE FAMIL Y RECORD. 



9 



he his son?" This heavenly and divine descent is 
joined together with the earthly origin of the divine 
man by John, in his introduction to his gospel : u In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. All things were made 
by him. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of 
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth." 

This glorious Being was to be the Light, not only 
of Asia, but of the world, and the true Light which 
lighteth every man. " He was in the world, and the 
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 
He came unto his own, and his own received him not 
But as many as received him to them gave he powei 
to become the sons of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on his name." 




SHRINE OF THF, ANNUNCIATION. 



IO 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 
I^uke i : 5-25.— In the temple at Jerusalem, b.c. 6. 

JERUSALEM was the Holy City, in the Holy Land. 
At Jerusalem was the Holy Temple. When God 
gave his law to Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, he 
told Moses to build a tabernacle, or movable tent, of 
costly cloths and fine woods and precious metals, to be 
constructed according to the pattern which God showed 
him in the Mount. This tabernacle was to be God's 
dwelling and Israel's place of worship. It was carried 
with them in their wanderings, and when David 
made Jerusalem his capital instead of Hebron, a new 
tabernacle was set up there. Solomon built a temple to 
take its place. This temple was destroyed when the 
Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon. At the 
return from Babylon, after the seventy years' captivity, 
the temple was rebuilt and called the second temple. 
But the old men wept when they thought of the greater 
glory of the first temple. King Herod the Great en- 
larged and beautified it so that it became one of the 
wonders of the earth, and was called Herod's Temple. 
There is a prophecy in Haggai (2 : 9) that the glory of 
the second or latter house was to be greater than that of 
the former. This prophecy was fulfilled when Christ 
appeared, for he was greater than the temple and gave 
to it by his presence its greatest glory. 

The temple, like the tabernacle, was divided into two 
parts — the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, sep- 



THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 1 1 

arated by a curtain, or vail. In the Holy Place were 
the table of shew bread, the golden candlestick, or lamp- 
stand, and the altar of incense, and behind the vail,' 
within the Holiest Place, was the ark, the mercy-seat, 
the cherubim, the shekinah, or visible cloud, the sym- 
bol of God's presence. At the time of the coining of 
Christ the Holy of Holies was dark and empty. Into 
it, as usual, the high priest entered once a year only, 
after making sacrifices, first for himself and then for the 
people. The altar of incense was a wooden box, three 
feet high and eighteen inches square, overlaid with gold. 
It stood near the vail. The temple area was large, and 
there were separate courts or spaces for the priests, the 
women, the Israelites and the Gentiles. The people 
did not enter the temple, which was a small structure, 
but worshiped outside in the temple area, or court. 
Before the door of the temple and in the area stood 
the great altar of sacrifice and the brazen laver. 

The services of the temple were very elaborate, and 
the sacrifices were numerous. Besides those at special 
seasons, as at the Passover and on the great Day of 
Atonement, there were the daily morning and evening 
sacrifices. These services required a great number of 
priests, who were of the tribe of Levi and the family of 
Aaron, and were divided into classes, that served in 
their turn and courses. They came from their homes 
throughout the land for the purpose of serving in the 
temple at regular periods for weeks at a time. They 
were provided with lodging-rooms in the temple. Over 
these classes of priests were the chief priests, and over 
all was the high priest. 

Zachariah was a priest of the course of Abia, who 
lived among the hills about Hebron ; his wife, Eliza- 



12 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



beth, was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest, the 
brother of Moses, Aged and childless, they were both 




JEWISH PRIEST. 

righteous before God, and walked in the commandments 
and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 

It was at the time either of the morning or the evening 
sacrifice, when the people filled the courts about the 



THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 13 

temple to worship. The sacrifice has been laid on the 
great altar at the temple front. A priest took live 
coals from off the altar, on which the fire was never ex- 
tinguished, and followed Zachariah, who, clothed in his 
priestly robes of pure white, and with covered head and 
bare feet, carried the sweet incense into the temple, and 
having placed the coals upon the altar of incense that 
stood by the vail, retired. It was customary for lots to 
be cast for this much- coveted service which Zachariah 
was now to perform, probably, for the first and last time, 
and which many priests were never so fortunate as to be 
permitted to do. He places the incense on the living 
coals on the altar ; the place is filled with sweet- 
scented smoke, which rises heavenward, a symbol of the 
prayers ascending from the multitude of worshipers in 
the courts of the temple, and from all over the world, 
wherever there is a Jew who prays with his face towards 
Jerusalem. Zachariah leads the prayer of the worshipers, 
and doubtless utters the desire of all the waiting ones 
for the speedy coming of the long-promised Prince of Is- 
rael, who shall redeem his people. Just then the angel 
Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God on high, ap- 
peared to Zachariah, who, at the apparition was filled 
with fear and trembling. 

It is a remarkable fact that during the fifty years in 
which are included Christ's life on earth and the early 
years of the apostles, more angels appeared and inter- 
ested themselves in the affairs of men than during the 
whole period of the world's previous history. An angel 
announced to Mary the birth of the coming Saviour. 
A multitude of the heavenly host sang to the shepherds 
on the hills of Judea when the Lord was born. Angels 
came to comfort and sustain Jesus when tempted in the 



14 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

wilderness and when agonizing in the garden. Two of 
the heavenly ones were seen in shining apparel by the 
women at the sepulchre. An angel said to the disciples 
at the Lord's ascension: "Why stand ye here gazing 
up into heaven?" An angel delivered Peter from 
prison, and the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's 
bosom. It is the salvation of souls by the suffering 
Christ to which Peter refers when he says: "Which 
things the angels desire to look into. ' ' It is written : 
"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to min- 
ister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" 

" Thy prayer is answered," said the angel to Zacha- 
riah, "and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear a son, and 
thou shalt call his name John." What prayer? For a 
son ? Not only that, but for the coming of the Messiah. 
He himself was to have joy and gladness, and many 
were to rejoice at his birth. This promised son was to 
go before the Messiah, in the spirit and power of Elijah, 
to prepare the way of the Lord and to turn many of the 
children of Israel to the Lord their God. It was hard 
for the aged priest to believe that he and his aged wife, 
contrary to the course of nature, should have a son, 
even though an angel said so ; and his doubt demanded ; 
"Whereby shall I know this ?" "Thou shalt be dumb 
and not able to speak until the day that these things 
shall be performed, because thou believest not my 
words. ' ' The very instrument with which he expressed 
his doubt to the angel was stricken, and he was speech- 
less, and so remained until John the Baptist was born. 
The people waiting without wondered why the priest 
tarried so long in the temple, and came not out to pro- 
nounce with his lips, as was customary, the blessing of 
God upon them ; and when he did appear, and motioned 



THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 



15 



to them with his hand, and could not speak, they per- 
ceived that he had seen a vision. 

Zacharias remained at Jerusalem until the period of 
his service in the temple had expired, and then went 
home with a glad heart, but silent tongue, to find 
Elizabeth, his wife, in their dwelling among the moun- 
tains near Hebron, and to tell her, by writing, the joy- 
ous news of the angel's vision. 




THE HOI<Y OF HOI.IFS OF THF TF,MPI<E. 



THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. 1J 



p 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. 

luke i : 26-56.— At Nazareth and Hebron, B.C. 6. 

ALESTINE was divided into three parts : Judea 
on the south, Samaria in the middle and Galilee 
on the north. In Galilee, the town of Nazareth 
was situated. Its location was west of Capernaum and 
not far from Cana. It was built on the side of a steep, 
but not very high, hill and overlooked a beautiful, fer- 
tile valley, about a mile in length and shaped like a 
hollow shell, around which fifteen mountains lifted 
their barren peaks. It was at that time a place of pro- 
verbial wickedness ; but there were some good people 
there, as we shall see, for it was the home of Mary and 
Joseph, and the place where Jesus spent most of his life 
on earth. 

The true etymology of the name Nazareth seems to 
be derived from the high hill overlooking the town, and 
as it were guarding it. The importance of hills as out- 
looks, or defences, in ancient times, and the custom to 
give towns their names from some leading feature of 
their site sufficiently explain it. 

The traveler of to-day finds Nazareth in the same 
enchanted situation. Near by, at the foot of Mount 
Tabor, Napoleon defeated the Turks in battle, and 
after the conflict spent a few hours at Nazareth. The 
place is now inhabited by Greeks, Turks and Catholics, 
and there are several churches in the town, one called 
1 'The Church of the Annunciation," because it was 



18 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

here that the angel announced to the Virgin Mary that 
she should have a son, who would be the long-expected 
Messiah. 

The godly Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, lived 
in humble circumstances and was by trade a carpenter, 
yet he was of the noblest ancestry, for he was the right- 
ful heir to the throne of David and Solomon, now occu- 
pied by the wicked usurper, Herod. It may seem 
strange that one of such noble birth should occupy such 
a lowly place in the land of his fathers ; but such things 
have not been uncommon in history. 

Geikie, in his " Life of Christ," says : "In the Book 
of Judges we find a grandson of Moses reduced to en- 
gage himself as a family priest, in Mount Ephraim, for 
a yearly wage of ' ten shekels, a suit of apparel and his 
victuals.' At the present day, the green turban, which 
marks descent from Mahomet, is often worn in the East 
by the very poor, and even by beggars. In our own 
history [English], the glory of the once illustrious Plan- 
tagenets so completely waned that the direct representa- 
tive of Margaret Plantagenet, daughter and heiress 
of George, Duke of Clarence, followed the trade of a 
cobbler in Newport, Shropshire, in 1637. Among the 
lineal descendants of Edmund of Woodstock, sixth son 
of Edward I., and entitled to quarter the royal arms, 
were a village butcher and a keeper of a turnpike gate ; 
and among the descendants of Thomas Plantagenet, 
Duke of Gloucester, fifth son of Edward III., was 
included the late sexton of a London church. The 
vicissitudes of the Jewish nation for century after cen- 
tury . . . had left, to use the figure of Isaiah, 
only a root in a dry ground, an humble citizen of Naza- 
reth, as the heir of its ancient royalty." 



THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. X g 

Joseph was espoused to Mary, an unassuming maiden 
dwelling at Nazareth. It was the Jewish custom for a 
woman to be betrothed to a man even months before 
they were married and the final ceremony performed. 
During this engagement the woman did not go to her 
husband's home, but lived at her own home and took 
time for preparation ; but in the eyes of the law they 
were married and could only be separated by divorce, 
which was never allowed, according to the better sense 
of the nation, except for the one scriptural cause of 
adultery. 

Mary was still in her own home with her relatives, 
when the angel appeared to her. If Zachariah was 
troubled when Gabriel stood before him, how much 
more must the timid maiden have feared when she 
was saluted by the heavenly messenger with the words, 
u Hail, highly favored of the Lord ! The Lord is with 
thee ; blessed art thou among women ! ' ' How filled 
with wonder must she have been when told that she, a 
maiden, should have a son whom she was to call Jesus ! 
that he was to be the Son of the Highest, who would 
reign forever upon the throne of his father David, 
and have universal dominion. She doubted, for she 
saw not how this could be. But the angel reminded 
her that with God nothing is impossible, and told her 
that her holy child should be the Son of God, and that 
her cousin Elizabeth also was to have a son. All these 
things the angel said in confirmation of the truth of his 
message, and Mary believed and said : " Behold, the 
handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy 
word." And the angel departed from her. 

It would have been remarkable had one of these 
women become a mother in the circumstances named, 



20 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

but that a virgin and an aged woman should each have 
a son emphasizes the miraculous nature of these events. 
Six months before this the angel had appeared to 
Zachariah in the Temple, and now Mary knows what 
word of promise he had brought to the priest. She, too, 
has now a secret, and she and her cousin Elizabeth can 
rejoice together. So Mary arose and journeyed south- 
ward for one hundred miles, till she came to the hills 
about Hebron, and entered the house of Zachariah and 
Elizabeth. Here we meet with additional proof of the 
Messiahship of Jesus. When Elizabeth saw Mary she 
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and at once, by divine 
revelation, recognized in the young woman Mary, " the 
mother of her Lord." For ages the Hebrew women 
had been looking for this hono r to fall upon one of their 
number, and now Mary is known as the favored one, 
the " blessed among women." And Mary's sweet song 
has come down to us through the ages. She said : 

My soul doth magnify the Lord, 

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden : 

For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me 

blessed. 
For he is mighty and hath done great things ; 
And holy is his name. 
And his mercy is on him that fear him 
From generation to generation. 
He hath shewed strength w T ith his arm : he hath scattered the 

proud in the imagination of their hearts. 
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 
And exalted them of low degree. 
He hath filled the hungry with good things ; 
And the rich he hath sent empty away. 

He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy ; 
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. 



I 



THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST. 21 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST. 

Luke I: 57-80.— In the Hill Country of Judea, B.C. 6. 

T is still a question whether Juttah or Hebron was 
the birthplace of John the Baptist. Both are in the 
"hill country," and each is "a city of Juda." Some 
have supposed that Jerusalem was the place ; but it was 
probably Hebron, which is a city about twenty Roman 
miles south of Jerusalem. It is situated three thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. Hebron is one of the 
most ancient cities of the world, the rival in age of 
Damascus. Abraham visited the town at least thirty- 
eight hundred years ago. Here the spies plucked the 
grapes of Eschol ; here dwelt ^ie dreaded giants, the 
Anakim ; here, too, Caleb defeated the giants, took 
their strong city from them and claimed it as his own 
inheritance ; and here David reigned more than seven 
years before he captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites. 

Hebron still exists, situated in a narrow, beautiful 
vale, surrounded by rocky hills. About a mile from 
the town is oue of the largest oak trees in Palestine, 
under which, it is said, Abraham pitched his tent. 
There is at Hebron a Mohammedan mosque, erected 
over the Cave of Machpelah, which was purchased by 
Abraham from Ephron the Hittite for a family tomb. 
This mosque was probably at one time a church, but, 
since the occupation of Palestine by the Moslems, has 
been one of the most sacred of their sanctuaries. Chris- 
tians are never, and Jews seldom, admitted within its 
walls. On rare occasions they are allowed to look in 



22 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

through a hole in the wall. " The sepulchres of Abra- 
ham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, 
are shown on the floor of the mosque, covered, in the 
usual Mohammedan style, with rich carpets ; but the 
real sepulchres are as they were in the twelfth and six- 
teenth centuries, in a cave below the floor. In this they 
resemble the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor." It may 
be that one of these days some enterprising antiquarian 
will bring to light the mummy of the patriarch Jacob, 
who was buried here with so much pomp by Joseph 
when governor of Egypt, after the body had been em- 
balmed by the Egyptians. 

This shrine was visited and entered by the Prince of 
Wales in 1862 ; but even the Sultan of Turkey and the 
Turkish Governor of Jerusalem could not guarantee his 
safety from the violence of Moslem fanaticism, that 
would regard the visit as " a profanation of the sacred 
place." However, the Priuce was unmolested, and 
Dean Stanley, one of the few allowed to accompany 
him, has written an account of this remarkable inspec- 
tion of the ancient sepulchre at Hebron. These facts 
give additional interest to this venerable town, where 
John the Baptist was probably born. 

The narrative does not inform us that the Virgin 
Mary tarried with Elizabeth until after the birth of 
John. Some have thought she did. However, about 
the close of this visit of three months, the son of Eliza- 
beth was born. There was great rejoicing, for the 
neighbors and cousins of the pious mother were filled 
with gladness for the great mercy the Lord had shown 
her. It was a Jewish custom to have every male child 
circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, at which 
time he also received his name. When the priests came 



THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST. 23 

to perform this Jewish ceremony, they named the child 
Zachariah, after his father ; but the mother said: u Not. 
so; but he shall be called John." Doubtless she knew 
that this was the name given him by the angel. Her 
friends wondered at this, because it was customary to 
name the first-born male child after his father ; and, be- 
sides, there was no male relative named John. So they 
made signs to Zachariah, who was still speechless, to 
know how he would have him named. The father asked 
for a writing tablet, and wrote : u His name is John." 

A change, wonderful as it was instantaneous, came 
upon Zachariah, his mouth was opened and his 
tongue was loosed and his first words were of praise to 
God. The effect upon all present was startling ; for fear 
fell upon them, and upon all that dwelt around ; and 
these things were told throughout all the hill country of 
Judea, and people who heard the wonderful story asked, 
"What manner of child shall this be?" 

The father, Zachariah, was filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and prophesied first concerning the Christ to 
be born, and then about the new-born babe. He 
blessed God for visiting and redeeming his people 
Israel, for raising up a horn of salvation in the house 
of David, according to his promises, by the mouth of 
his holy prophets, from the foundation of the world, 
to save his people from their enemies and to keep his 
covenant with Abraham and to bring all, through 
this deliverance, to holiness and righteousness of life. 
Of John he said, by the Spirit of God : " Thou, child, 
shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou 
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his 
ways : to give knowledge of salvation to his people, 
by the remission of sins, through the tender mercy of 



24 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



our God ; whereby the day-spring from on high hath 
visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness 
and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the 
way of peace." 

Respecting the childhood of John, we have only 
one short verse descriptive of it. He grew in body 
and dwelt in the wilderness of Judea, living a life of 
self-denial and of communion with God, until the 
time came for him to appear before Israel in public 
to proclaim the coming of the Lord : ' ' And the child 
grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the 
deserts till the day of his showing to Israel." 

Let us now follow the order of events, and mark how 
they all point to the hand of God in preparing the way 
for the advent of the long-expected Messiah. It was 
not only a period of universal expectation that some 
great event should happen and some illustrious person- 
age appear, but the Greek language, as a vehicle of 
thought, had become universal, and the Roman Empire 
embraced all lands, affording intercourse with all na- 
tions, and the Jewish synagogue was found everywhere 
as a place of assembling the people for worship and 
hearing the gospel. 




ANGEI*S APPEAR TO THE SHEPHERDS. 



BOOK SECOND 



FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO HIS 
APPEARANCE IN THE TEMPLE. 

A PERIOD OF THIRTEEN YEARS, FROM B.C. 5 TO A.D. 8. 



(25) 




(26) 



SHE I,AID HIM IN A MANGER. 



THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 



27 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 
Matt, i: 18-25; I*UKEii: 1-20.— Nazareth, Bethlehem, B.C. 5. 

u ^nnVHE birth of Christ was on this wise." After 
-A- the return of Mary from Hebron to Nazareth, 
she was taken home by her husband, Joseph. 
An angel had appeared to Joseph and announced that 
his espoused wife, the Virgin Mary, would bring forth 
a son to be called Jesus, who would be Emmanuel, 
or God with us. She abode there about six months, 
when a necessity arose for both of them to go to Beth- 
lehem. 

Palestine was a conquered province, and as such 
was a part of the Roman Empire. The Roman em- 
peror, Caesar Augustus, commanded a census to be 
taken that all of his subjects might be taxed. The 
Roman way of taking the census would have been 
to enroll every one in his place of residence. But 
the Jewish method was to enroll by families, or tribes, 
and in the place of one's nativity. Herod, the king, 
was the ready tool of Csesar, but the emperor had no 
objection to yield so far to Jewish custom ; so the 
king collected the taxes for him, according to the 
Jewish method, which brought the people to their 
tribal cities. The enrollment and taxing of the whole 
world was a great task, and took a long time to com- 
plete it. During such an enrollment Christ was born, 
probably before the winter of the Roman year 749-750, 
and B.C. 5. 



28 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Dr, Robinson says that the present Christian era is 
( ( from four to five years, at the least, after the actual 
birth of Christ. This era was first used in historical 
works by the Venerable Bede, early in the eighth cen- 
tury, and was not long after introduced in public trans- 
actions by the Frank kings Pepin and Charlemagne. ' ' 

Joseph and Mary, compelled by royal command, went 
at once to Bethlehem to be enrolled, because that was 
the city of David, and they were both of the family 
of David. Here we see how an imperial decree makes 
Herod, the Jew, and Caesar, the Gentile, the uncon- 
scious instruments in the fulfillment of most impor- 
tant prophecies concerning Christ, and so furnishes 
additional proof of the Messiahship of Jesus. Accord- 
ing to prophecy the Messiah was to be the seed of 
David, and to be born in Bethlehem. 

When some said of Jesus : "Is this the Christ ? -' ' 
others answered, supposing he had been born in 
Nazareth : "Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath 
not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed 
of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where 
David was?" This going to Bethlehem for enroll- 
ment, in obedience to law, proves that Jesus was de- 
scended from David. There, too, was the roll itself, 
and the family tables were open for inspection. 

Bethlehem is about eighty miles south of Nazareth, 
and the journey must have been undertaken by Joseph 
and Mary with great reluctance. They probably per- 
formed the journey with Mary seated on an ass, led 
by Joseph, who walked by its side. Doubtless this 
was the manner in which they traveled for the four 
days which they probably spent on the way, resting 
each night. 



THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 



29 



Geikie gives a vivid picture of the journey as they 
traveled south along the common roads which the 
traveler can trace even now : 

"Passing down the little valley of Nazareth, they would 
find themselves crossing the rich plain of Esdraelon — the bat- 
tle-ground of nations — not then, as now, half tilled and well- 
nigh unpeopled, but covered with cities and villages, full of 
teeming life and human activities. Galilee, according to Jo- 
sephus, contained, in those days, two hundred and four cities 
and villages, the smallest of which numbered over fifteen 
thousand inhabitants. 

"Leaving, on the left, the rounded height of Tabor, and 
the villages of Nain and Endor, up among the hills, the road 
stretched directly south to Jezreel, once Ahab's capital, in the 
gentle swell of the rich plain of Esdraelon. On their way 
they would pass through a landscape of busy cities and towns, 
varied by orchards, vineyards, gardens, fields— for every available 
spot was cultivated, to the very top of the hills — the mountains of 
Gilboa, where Saul perished, lay a little to the east of Jezreel. 
Dothan, with its rich pastures, where Joseph had found his 
brethren so many ages before, would soon be seen on their 
right, and before long Samaria itself, then just rebuilt by 
Herod, with magnificence. Shechem, with its lovely neighbor- 
hood, would be their resting-place on the second day ; midway 
between Judea and Galilee they would pass the night in what 
shelter they could find, at Jacob's springs or Jacob's well. 

" Once in Judea, its bleak, bare hills were hallowed, at each 
opening of the landscape, by the sight of the spots sacred 
to every Jew. Shiloh, where Hannah came to pray before the 
Lord ; then Gilgal, where her son sat to judge Israel. Their 
way would pass through the valley of Baca, through the town 
of Gophna, past the venerable Bethel, past Ramah, Gideon 
high on its hill, where Solomon worshiped, past Mizpah on 
its lonely height, where Samuel raised his memorial stone, 
and then, at last, after having passed from one holy place to 
another, their feet would stand within the gates of Jeru- 
salem." 

But their journey was not at an end ; their destina- 



3° 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



tion was Bethlehem, 
meaning House o f 
Bread, the ancient 
Ephratah, six miles 
south of Jerusalem. 
The town is situated 
upon the top of a 
hill, whose terraces, 
like great steps, de- 
scend to the north- 
ward, covered with 
trees and overhang- 
ing vines. Here Ra- 
chel died and was 
buried in the valley 
below ; here Ruth, 
the ancestress of Da- 
vid, gleaned in the 
fields of Boaz ; and 
here David, the an- 
cestor of Joseph and 
Mary, and the king, 
hero and poet of Is- 
rael, was born. On 
their way up the steep 
path to the town the 
weary couple must 
have passed the well 
of David, outside the 
city gate. 

It may be that, ac- 
cording to the custom of the East, the travelers looked 
for entertainment in the house of some friend or 




THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 



31 



relative, but having traveled slowly, others had come, 
many of them also for the purpose of enrollment ; 
they found the private houses all filled, and even the 
public inn had no room for them. 

Though heirs of royalty, they are so fallen in for- 
tune as to receive no recognition. The public inn or 
khan was, and is still, a simple, one-story, rough-stone 
structure designed for the safety of cattle. A recess at 
one end, raised a foot or two above the level of the 
court-yard, open in front and arched over, is called a 
leewan. The cattle occupy the open space, while the 
travelers betake themselves to the leewan, unless it is 
full, in which case they must rest or sleep among the 
cattle and lower servants in the yard below. No fur- 
niture, covering, bedding, food nor attendance are 
provided. The traveler brings his own mat, upon 
which he sits cross-legged or sleeps. He provides his 
own food, while for himself and cattle he draws water 
from a neighboring well. A lamp usually hung in 
the gate-way at night, and there was generally, but 
not always, a person in charge of the place ; some- 
times there is a cave attached to the khan for the 
cattle. 

Mary and Joseph sought shelter in the village inn. 
Finding it already crowded, they were forced to take 
refuge among the cattle. The inn or khan at Bethle- 
hem occupied the top of the hill on which the city was 
built, and was ' ' probably the very one which had been 
known for centuries as the house of Chimham, and, if so, 
covering perhaps the very ground on which, one thous- 
and years before, had stood the hereditary house of Boaz, 
of Jesse, and of David ; ' ' yet ' ' there was no room for 
them in the inn, n u In the rude lime-stone grotto 



32 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

attached to it as a stable, among the hay and straw 
spread for the food and rest of the cattle, weary with 
their day's jonrney, far from home, in the midst of 
strangers, in the chilly winter night, in circumstances 
so devoid of all earthly comfort or splendor that it is 
impossible to imagine a humbler nativity, — Christ was 
born. ' ' 

His lowly condition at birth emphasizes the words 
spoken to Pilate, just before his death, " My kingdom is 
not of this world ;" and, in Christ's eyes, poverty and 
riches, and all earthly distinctions, are unrecognized. 
He was of lowly mind, the friend of all, and "came to 
reveal that the soul of the greatest monarch was no 
dearer or greater in God's sight than the soul of his 
meanest slave." Not far from Bethlehem, the royal 
fortress and palace of king Herod the Great stood upon 
a lofty hill ; but the Heavenly Father fixed the birth- 
place of the King of kings, not in the imperial building, 
but in a stable, among the cattle of the stall. 

The tradition, for it is a tradition, that Jesus was born 
in a cave is very ancient, and the cave is still pointed 
out. Justin Martyr, who was born at Shechem, and lived 
about a century after Christ, was familiar with Palestine 
and places the scenes of the Nativity in a cave at Beth- 
lehem. Jerome spent thirty years of his life in fasting, 
prayer and study in a cave at Bethlehem, where he 
translated the Bible into the Latin language. "Over 
the cave of the Nativity are erected a church and con- 
vent, to mark the spot. The church is in the form of a 
cross and is a venerable structure, having been first built 
by the emperor Constantine. Greeks, Armenians, and 
Latins have charge of these places now. There is an 
altar in the choir to 'the three kings,' or magi, showing 






THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 33 

in the centre a star of white marble. The cave, which 
is reached from the choir by two nights of broad and 
beautiful marble stairs," "is about thirty-eight feet 
long and eleven broad and nine high, and is paved with 
black and red-veined marble. The sides are partly 
lined with marble slabs." Curtains of silk and linen 
are suspended here and there, while from the roof hangs 
a row of silver lamps along the whole length of the 




CONVENT OF THE NATIVITY. 

cave. But none of these things were there when Jesus 
was born. It was simply a stable, rude and unadorned. 
The elegant adornments are of modern invention. The 
site of the manger itself is shown on the east side, in a 
grotto, four feet by eight, in which is a crib of colored 
marble, which takes the place of the wooden manger, 



34 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



which was removed to Rome in i486, 
of the grotto is the inscription : 



Over the door 



"HIC DE VIRGINK MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST." 

(Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.) 

A painting of the adoration of the shepherds covers 
the rock behind, and five silver lamps swing before it. 

On the night when Jesus was born, a company of 
shepherds were watching their flocks upon the adjoin- 
ing hills. Here, probably, David was tending his father's 
sheep when Samuel came to anoint him king over 
Israel, and where he saw and watched the stars and sang 
of God's glory and might ; and here now the angel of 
the Lord came upon the shepherds, and the glory of the 
Lord shone round about them. "The angel said: 
Fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day, in 
the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, 
and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the 
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of 
the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth, peace and good will 
toward men." 

When the angels had disappeared and the darkness of 
night had taken the place of the glory of heaven, the 
shepherds hastened to Bethlehem and found Mary and 
Joseph, and the child lying in a manger. Then they 
returned and spread abroad the wonderful tidings they 
had seen and heard, and all who heard them, won- 
dered, while Mary treasured these things in her heart, 
as additional proof that her child was indeed the long- 
expected Messiah. 



THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 



35 



"One mile from Bethlehem is a little plain in which, 
under a grove of olives, stands the bare and neglected 
chapel known by the name of ' the angel to the shep- 
herds. ' It is built over the traditional site of the fields 
where the angel appeared to the shepherds. ' ' 




CRYPT UNDER THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY, AND MANGER. 



36 THE STORY OF JESUS, 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 

Matt, i : 25 ; I/r/KEii : 21-39.— Jerusalem, B.C. 5. 

T ~X THEN the infant Jesns was eight days old, 
V V according to Jewish custom and the law of 
God, he was circumcised. This could be 
done at home, in the synagogue at Bethlehem, or in the 
temple at Jerusalem. At this time, as was usual, his 
name was given to him. He is called Jesus, according 
to the command of the angel. His parents were Jews, 
and now, having submitted to the Jewish laws, the son 
is also a Jew. In the observing of this rite, we see not 
only reverence for law, but also the life of Christ's suf- 
ferings and obedience begun. The shadow of the cruel 
cross already begins to fall on the Redeemer's infant 
life. He was made under the law. He came to fulfil 
the law, not to abolish it. By his obedience we escape 
the burden of its penalty, and are also released from 
keeping the ceremonial law. If Jesus had not kept the 
law as a Jew, he could not have gone into synagogue 
and temple proclaiming his own gospel as he did, nor 
would he have fulfilled the requirements of prophecy. 

For forty days after the birth of a son, a Jewish 
mother was required to seclude herself, and then to take 
her babe into the temple to offer the sacrifice necessary 
for her ceremonial u purification, " and to present her 
son before the Lord and pay the price of his release 
or " redemption. n At the end of the period of her 
purification, Mary, accompanied by Joseph and Jesus, 
journeyed from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the mother 



THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 



37 



probably riding on an ox, to prevent her defilement, 
according to Jewish notions, by contact with unclean 
things by the way. Arriving at the holy city, they go 
to the temple, and as soon as the gates are open, enter 
into the court of the women. 




AN OFFERING OF DOVES. 



Joseph, as the husband of Mary, is permitted to enter 
this part of the temple with her, but she cannot enter 
with him the court of the men. Here the priests or 



38 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Levites come to meet her at the time of morning sacri- 
fice, and, receiving her gift, bear it inside to the sac- 
rificial altar, and then returning^ sprinkle the woman 
with some of the blood of her offering and she is clean. 
The gift required on such occasions was a lamb, or, if 
the parents were poor, a pair of turtle-doves or two 
pigeons. Joseph and Mary were poor, and they, there- 
fore, offer the humbler gift, and thus emphasize the 
truth, that poverty is no disgrace and that God looks 
not upon the outward condition of man ; and yet he 
requires of every one some gift or offering, but only 
according to each one's ability. 

The house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi had been 
set aside to the priesthood, but the custom still prevailed 
of presenting the first-born son to the Lord and offering 
the gift of money, not more than five shekels, for his 
redemption or release. Since no child who was in any 
way maimed, or defective, or had any blemish, could be 
presented to the Lord, we infer that Jesus was in all 
respects without any physical blemish. After two 
thousand years, this ceremony of the "redemption 
of the first-born," is still observed among the Jews, 
probably without much change. It is not celebrated in 
the temple, which was destroyed many centuries ago ; 
but the " Hebrew father invites ten friends and a rabbi, 
who must be a Cohen, that is, one reputed to belong to 
the house of Aaron, to his house, on the thirty-first day 
after the child's birth," when the ceremony is observed. 

While Joseph and Mary were performing their sacred 
parental duty in the temple, they were granted addi- 
tional proof of the greatness of their infant son. As be- 
fore, the angel's appearance to Zachariah, and then to 
Mary, and afterward to the shepherds, so now the testi- 



THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 



39 



mony of the aged Simeon and the prophetess Anna, 
afford evidence that Jesus is the Christ. 

Simeon, an aged man of Jerusalem, was one of those 
few among the Jews who, with a spiritual mind, ob- 
served all the forms of Jewish ritual, and who saw the 
spiritual meaning in all the prophecies concerning 
Christ and his kingdom. L,ike Nathanael, Simeon was 
"an Israelite indeed " in whom was no guile. He was 
just toward man and devout toward God, looking for 
the Christ, the "consolation of Israel." It had been 
revealed to him that he should live to see the promised 
Saviour, and now, coining into the temple, led by the 
Spirit of God, during the ceremony of presentation he 
recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. Filled with holy rap- 
ture, he takes the babe in his arms, and, blessing God, 
says: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace, according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face 
of all people, — a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the 
glory of thy people Israel." Here, then, in the very 
infancy of Jesus, it is declared that his work shall be 
among both Jews and Gentiles. Again, Joseph and 
Mary wonder at the remarkable sayings concerning the 
child. Simeon, after blessing them all, prophesies how 
lie will be received on the one hand, and rejected on 
the other, and, foreseeing his crucifixion, says to the 
mother : "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul 
also. ' ' 

But waiting there in the temple, and watching for 
the appearance of the Redeemer of Israel, were others 
besides Simeon. Among these was Anna, a widow and 
prophetess, eighty-four years of age, the daughter of 
Phanuel, "of the tribe of Asher, and therefore a Gali- 



THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 



41 



lean." She had lived with her husband seven years 
of her early life, but since then had passed her long 
life in devotion, remaining in the house of God day 
and night, fasting and praying and praising God. De- 
spite her age and consequent infirmities, she was still 
found in the house of prayer engaged in public worship. 
Coming in while Simeon was prophesying, she also 
recognized the infant Messiah, and gave thanks to God, 
and ' ' spake of him to all them that looked for redemp- 
tion in Jerusalem." 

When Joseph and Mary "had performed all things 
according to the law of the L,ord, they returned into 
Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth." But before 
their return, much time elapsed and many things were 
done, of which we shall proceed to speak. The first of 
these is the visit of the Magi, who found the babe in 
Bethlehem, where his parents had gone after present- 
ing him in the temple. 




BETHLEHEM. 



42 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE STAR IN THE EAST. 
Matt. ii. 1-12. — Jerusalem and Bethlehem, b.c. 4. 

"\ ~X TE have already spoken of the wide-spread ex- 
V V pectation of a Jewish king who should attain 
to universal empire, like Caesar, the Roman 
Emperor, or Alexander, the Grecian conqueror. The 
patriotic Jew could see no meaning in the glorious 
prophecies of the Old Testament, but that the Jews 
should, under their Messiah, conquer the world. A few 
only among them understood that the coming reign of 
the Christ was to be spiritual, as it is now, extending 
over the earth wherever the missionary of the cross has 
gone with the Jewish scriptures in his hand. Scattered 
all over the earth and dwelling in large numbers in all 
lands, the Jews carried their Messianic expectation with 
them and told to the wondering heathen the story of 
their ancient prophecies concerning the glorious Prince, 
who was to reign over Israel, and gather the Gentiles 
into his kingdom. And when they assembled at Jeru- 
salem in the time of their sacred feasts, numbering often 
from two to three millions of pilgrims, and when they 
heard their teachers declaring the nearness of his com- 
ing, and saw the oppression of their enemies, they went 
back to their distant abodes hopefully saying, " The 
time is at hand." 

Proselytes among the heathen were made everywhere 
by the Jewish zealots, and probably such were the wise 
men who came to welcome the new-born king. Who 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 43 

these wise men were, where they came from, their rank, 
their names, their number, have ever been questions of 
speculation. Some have contended for twelve answer- 
ing to the twelve tribes of Israel ; others have said there 
were three, one for each kind of gift given to the babe. 
They came from the east — east of Judea ; probably from 
Persia or Arabia. They were doubtless Gentiles, who, 
led of God, were the first of their race to seek and find 
the Saviour of mankind ; and realizing their expecta- 
tions in the infant Jesus, they prostrate themselves 
before him. Thus early the prophecy of Isaiah began to 
be fulfilled : " And the Gentiles shall come to thy light 
and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ' ' 

The word translated " wise men " is in the original, 
Magi, which meant a sect of Median or Persian 
scholars ; it was subsequently applied — as in Acts xiii. 
6 — to pretended astrologers or oriental soothsayers. 
The Magi were priests, philosophers, astronomers, — the 
learned men of the eastern nations, who devoted them- 
selves to religion, medicine and astronomy. Some of 
them were doubtless good men. These Magi were evi- 
dently devout astronomers who came looking for the ex- 
pected Redeemer of the world in order to worship him. 

To this class of men belonged the ancient alchemist, 
who was the early chemist, " black" though his art was 
in the estimation of the ignorant, and the ancient 
astrologist, who, superstitious though he may have 
been, was the early astronomer. In the course of their 
reverent contemplation of the heavens, these wise men 
saw a new star which they deemed was sent to announce 
the birth of the Jewish king, so long expected. From 
their home in the east this star directed them westward 
to Judea. 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 45 

That they so interpreted the appearance of the star 
is not strange. The heavens were consulted by both 
eastern and western wise men to ascertain the will of 
God and the destinies of nations, and hence the magi- 
cians and soothsayers were the counselors of kings, as 
the Chaldeans of Babylon in Daniel's day. They 
"divined" by the rising and setting of the stars, and 
by the conjunction of the planets in the heavens. The 
appearance of a star or comet was regarded among the 
ancients as an omen of some remarkable event. The 
Jews to some extent shared this superstition of the 
heathen nations. At the death of Julius Caesar a comet 
shone in the heavens for seven days. And now when a 
new star appeared in the west, these wise men ex- 
claimed, "This is the star of the long-looked for 
Prince ; for is it not written, ' There shall come a star 
out of Jacob? ' " According to Geikie, " Belief in the 
influence of stars over life and death, and in special 
portents at the birth of a great man, survived indeed to 
recent times." 

There have been many conjectures as to what this 
star was, — whether natural or supernatural. The effort 
has been made to prove that there was a remarkable 
phenomenon in the heavens about the time of the birth 
of the Lord, similar to the one that occurred in 1603-04, 
which is described as " a conjunction of the two largest 
superior planets, Saturn and Jupiter in the zodiacal 
sign of the Fishes, in the watery trigon. In the fol- 
lowing spring they were joined in the fiery trigon by 
Mars, . . . and between Mars and Saturn, a new star 
of the first magnitude appeared, which, after shining 
for a whole year, waned . . . and finally disappeared. 
. . . Such a conjunction should at once have been 



4 6 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



interpreted by Chaldean observers as indicating the ap- 
pearance of some memorable event ; and since it occurred 
in the constellation Pisces, which was supposed by 
astrologers to be immediately connected with the for- 
tunes of Judea, it would turn their thoughts in that 
direction. n 

But we are disposed to regard the " star " as a glorious 




JERUSALEM. 



light in the near heavens sent to guide the expectant 
wise men to the holy babe in the manger at Bethlehem. 
It was not natural, but supernatural, and, like the 
angels that appeared to the shepherds of Judea, it was a 
messenger direct from God. 

There was a great commotion in Jerusalem when the 
Magi arrived there and asked, "Where is he that is 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 47 

born king of the Jews ? For we have seen his star in 
the east and have come to worship him. ' ' 

Herod, the king, called the Great, was not a Jew, and 
held the throne by craft and cruelty, under the Roman 
power. Jerusalem had fallen before the victorious arms 
of Pompey, sixty-three years before, and Judea was now 
a Roman province and the Jews the subjects of a foreign 
prince. Herod was an Idumean, a descendant of the 
hated Ishmael and Esau, and had occupied the throne 
of David for thirty-four years, sustained by the armies 
of Caesar. No wonder this aged monster trembled when 
he heard of the birth of the king of the Jews — the pre- 
dicted Messiah, whose star was seen in the east. Long 
had he reigned ; but he is now jealous and afraid, even 
of an infant whom he regards as an aspirant for his 
stolen throne. He knew of no new-born king. Both 
he and his adherents were greatly troubled ; but there 
were those who were concerned in a joyous sense, and 
who looked for Israel's deliverance, and some who even 
remembered the late scene in the temple when Jesus 
was presented. 

With anxious mind Herod summoned the Great 
Council, or Senate of the nation, called the Sanhedrin, 
a body which was composed of seventy-two of the chief 
priests and scribes, or learned men and elders, which 
had charge of the civil and religious affairs of the Jews, 
and was presided over by the high priest. When this 
Council had assembled, Herod demanded of them where 
" Christ" should be born, for Herod judged that he 
whose star was seen by the wise men could be no other 
than the promised king, the Messiah. The answer to 
Herod's question is found, not by consulting the stars, 
but by searching the scriptures. In the prophecy of 



4 8 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



Micah they found these words : "And thou, Bethlehem, 
in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes 
of Judah : for out of thee shall come a governor that 
shall rule my people Israel." According to Micah, the 
babe of Bethlehem is the ruler and king of Israel — the 
Christ. Herod invites the wise men to a private inter- 
view, and sends them to Bethlehem to look diligently 
for the new-born king, saying to them that when they 
had found the young child they should return and tell 
him, that he too might go and worship him. 

When the Magi started on their way, to their great 
joy, the star again appeared and went before them to 
Bethlehem, "till it came and stood over where the 
young child was." Having arrived there, they entered 
the house, perhaps the same where the child was born, 
although Joseph may have occupied his own house at 
this time, and seeing the young child with Mary, his 
mother, they fell down and did him reverence as a 
king, offering him kingly presents — the best their coun- 
tries could afford — gold, frankincense and myrrh. Being 
warned of God not to return to Herod, they went back 
to their own country another way. 




EASTERN KHAN AT NIGHT. 



w 



THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 49 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 
Matt. ii. 13-23.— Bethlehem, Egypt, b.c. 4. 

HEN Herod, the king, told the wise men to 
find out where the young king of the Jews 
was and bring him word, that he might go 
also and worship him, he was not sincere. Herod was 
crafty as well as cruel, and his intention was to kill the 
babe who appeared to be an aspirant for the throne. He 
thought of the star, the wise men, the Sanhedrin and the 
scriptures, and his jealousy was aroused. To slay every 
one who seemed to stand in his way had been his policy 
during the period of his more than thirty years' reign. 
He had grown gray in years and hardened in crime, 
until, like Nero or like Henry VIII. , he had become a 
monster of cruelty. He had slain his wife's brother, 
Aristobulus, who was eighteen years of age, because he 
had won the affections of the people of Jerusalem. He 
had put to death Hyrcanus, his wife's grandfather, a 
man eighty years of age, who had once saved his life. 
His beloved and beautiful wife, Mariamne, and her 
mother were publicly executed, and his two sons, by 
Mariamne, — Alexander and Aristobulus, — were stran- 
gled in prison, by his orders. After suffering the great- 
est agonies from a terrible disease, he died, in his splen- 
did palace at Jericho, hating all and being hated by all. 
Just before his death he ordered three thousand of the 
chief men of the nation to come to him on pain of 
death, and shut them up in the circus at Jericho. 
3 



5o 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



' ' When I am dead, ' ' he said to his faithful but infamous 
sister, Salome, ' ' order that all of them be put to death 
at once, that there may be mourning in the land on 
their account, if not on mine." Fortunately his orders 
were not executed, and the death of the detested tyrant 
was, as Herod himself feared, a day of festive joy to 
all. 

We may well suppose that such a monster would have 
no hesitation in putting to death any one who was 
deemed the king of the Jews, or was looked upon as the 
expected Messiah who was to occupy the throne of 
David. Such was his intention. When Herod saw that 
the Magi did not return as he had expected, having 
outwitted him, he was very angry and greatly disap- 
pointed. But he was resolved not to turn aside from his 
wicked purpose. In order to accomplish his murderous 
design, he ordered that all the male infants of two years 
old and under, in Bethlehem and vicinity, should be 
slain. To make sure that the infant Messiah should be 
destroyed, he commanded the wholesale execution of 
the innocent children. " Surely," he thought, " I shall 
not be mocked nor deceived, for the infant king will 
certainly be slain." 

When Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that Herod 
was cruel, his word is accepted, but when Matthew 
records a characteristic instance of his cruelty, skeptics 
shake their heads ; when Josephus records as a fact that 
there was an expectation throughout the world that a 
great ruler should arise among the Jews to overrun and 
conquer the earth, he is believed, but when Matthew 
relates how the wise men came to worship the new-born 
king, he is discredited ; and yet Matthew, who gave up 
all for Christ, is far more, to be believed than the rene- 



THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 51 

gade Jew Josephus, who sold his country and went over 
to the enemy of his people to save himself. 

When the children of Israel were carried captive to 
Babylon, a number of them were collected at Ramah, a 
town in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, near 
Bethlehem. The prophet Jeremiah, who lived in those 
days, beautifully pictures Rachel, the mother of Benja- 
min, whose grave was near Bethlehem, as rising from the 
dead and weeping for her children driven off into 
captivity. Matthew quoting the prophecy, says: "In 
Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weep- 
ing, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her chil- 
dren, and would not be comforted because they are not." 

Ramah was about six miles north-west of Jerusalem, 
in the neighborhood of Bethel. The name means an 
eminence and the spot commands a view of the plain of 
Sharon and the Mediterranean Sea. It w T as the birth- 
place of Samuel, where he also lived and died. It is 
supposed to be the same place as Arimathea, the home 
of Joseph, who begged the body of Jesus for burial. 

But God was watching over the infant Jesus as he 
ever watches over his people. As he warned the wise 
men so the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and 
revealing the murderous intention of Herod, directed 
him to flee with the mother and child into Egypt. 
Joseph arose at; once and fled with his little family, and 
the child Jesus escaped the sad fate which fell upon the 
babes who were left behind, the innocent victims of 
Herod's cruel wrath. 

The land in which the children of Israel were once 
enslaved becomes the refuge of the Son of David, and 
the only country except Palestine that he ever visited. 
A few days' journey would bring the travelers to the 




(52) 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 



THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 53 

stream that separates the dominion of Herod from the 
land of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, and give them 
security under another government. 

There are many stories about this journey and con- 
cerning the sojourn of the infant Saviour in Egypt, but 
they are unworthy of credence, and only to the scrip- 
tures can we look for the truth. Where they dwelt. is 
not known. Some claim that they were at Memphis. 
Wherever they dwelt, they would find a synagogue and 
many of their own countrymen, some of whom were 
also exiles for fear of the tyrant's power. They 
would also find still prevailing that ill-feeling between 
the Egyptians and Hebrews which had existed from the 
days of Moses. 

At this time, however, the Jews of Egypt had power 
and influence as well as numbers. At Alexandria were 
collected many of their learned men ; and here, about 
two hundred and fifty years before Jesus came to 
Egypt, seventy-two Jewish scholars translated parts of 
the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greek. From 
these seventy-two translators, or interpreters, the book 
takes its name, the Septuagint. It had much to do 
with the preparation of the world for the coming of 
the Christ. 

Before this, God's written revelation was locked up 
from the world in the Hebrew, a language known 
only to the Jewish nation but no longer spoken by 
them. The Greek was the language of the world, 
and the scriptures in Greek, understood by the world, 
went everywhere and had much to do with creating 
that universal expectation of the Christ whose coming 
was foretold in them as the conqueror and Saviour of 
the world. The Magi who saw his star in the east 



54 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

had probably read these sacred writings, and in the 
spread of the gospel this Greek translation had also an 
important influence. It was the "people's Bible." 
From it the evangelists in the gospels and the apostles 
quote, and Christ himself read from it in the synagogue 
at Nazareth. Peter quoted it on the day of Pentecost, 
and in it the Ethiopian eunuch read. It was probably 
in the Aramaean, the vernacular language of the people, 
that the apostles preached, and in the Greek that the 
evangelists wrote the gospels. A curse was pronounced 
against the Jew who kept swine, or taught his child 
Greek; "but when advancement could be obtained 
only by a knowledge of Greek and Grecian culture, 
pride and scruples often gave way before interest." 

How long the child Jesus remained in Egypt is 
variously estimated from one to three years, but at the 
death of Herod the angel of the Lord appeared to 
Joseph and commanded him to return to Judea, because 
he that sought the life of the child was dead. Thus 
was the prophecy fulfilled, "Out of Egypt have I 
called my son ; " once when Moses led God's children 
out of the land of bondage, and now again when God 
recalls Israel's seed from exile in the same land. 

Again the tedious journey is taken, and soon " they 
come into the land of Israel." The intention of Joseph 
was to go to Bethlehem, for there evidently he had 
taken up his abode ; but fear seized him when he heard 
that Archelaus reigned in Judea in his father Herod's 
place, and by the direction of God he turned away and 
went into Galilee to the town of Nazareth, out of the 
dominion of the cruel son of an infamous father, and 
under the jurisdiction of Herod's son, Antipas, who, 
if not a good ruler, was a very indifferent one and 
not to be feared. 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 55 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 

Luke ii. 40, 52. — At Nazareth, B.C. 4 to a.d. 8. 

THE materials for the early life of Jesus are very 
meagre. The gospels deal mostly with his 
public life and ministry, which cover from three 
to four years, while of his private life during a period 
of about thirty years, they say but little. Tradition, 
however, is not silent. There are books that profess 
to give true and marvellous stories of the youthful 
Jesus. They tell us how he made birds of clay, and, 
clapping his hands, at once endowed them with life and 
put them to flight ; how he in anger struck dead the 
childish companion who crossed him ; how his play- 
mates enthroned him their king and bowing down to 
him made other children passing do the same. 

These stories are all foolish fictions, the inventions 
of men. We must go to the scriptures alone, for out- 
side of them nothing is reliable. But little is made 
known about the early life of Jesus ; for some good 
reason God has concealed the rest from us. Two verses 
in Luke, and one story of the child with the doctors 
in the temple are all we have in scripture of this 
period in the Saviour's life: "The child grew and 
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the 
grace of God was upon him ;" and, "Jesus increased 
in wisdom, and in favor with God and man." These 
verses refer to the physical, mental and moral de- 
velopment of Jesus, to the growth of his human 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 57 

soul, and the advancement of his mind and heart in 
wisdom. Jesus grew as any other child by means 
which are revealed to us in the land and its customs as- 
well as in the book. It will not be long before the East 
must yield to the newer and better civilization of the 
West. But the habits and customs and general features 
of Palestine have been preserved much the same as in 
our Saviour's day, in order to throw light upon the life 
of Christ for the benefit of all coming ages. First of 
all and above all, Jesus was taught of God and dwelt 
in daily communion with his heavenly Father. 

Nazareth, the mountain village, in which was spent all 
of our Saviour's life save three or four years, was most 
beautifully situated among the everlasting hills. The 
town is nearly twelve hundred feet above the level of 
the sea, and some of the hills rise about five hundred 
feet higher. Such a place could not fail to have an 
elevating influence upon the. mind of the youthful 
Jesus. Says Geikie : 

11 The traveler will be charmed by the brightness of the plains 
and the beauty of the flowers. The distant view of the village 
itself in spring is beautiful ; its streets rise in terraces in the 
hill-slopes towards the northwest. The hills here and there 
broken in perpendicular faces, rise above it, in an amphitheatre 
round, to a height of about five hundred feet, and shut it in from 
the bleak winds of winter. The flat-roofed houses, built of 
yellowish white limestone of the neighborhood, shine in the sun 
with dazzling brightness from among gardens, fig trees, olives, 
cypresses, and the white and scarlet blossoms of the pomegran- 
ate. . . . Small gardens rich in green clumps of olive trees and 
stately palms, break the monotonous yellow of the rocks and 
houses, while doves coo and birds of many kinds twitter in the 
branches, or flit across the open fields. The bright colors of the 
roller, the hoopoe, the sunbird, or the bulbul, catch the eye as 
one or the other dart swiftly past . . . The song of the lark floods 

3* 



^ 8 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

a thousand acres of the sky with melody ; the restless tit-mouse, 
the willow-wren, the blackcap, the hedge sparrow, the white- 
throat, or the nightingale, flit or warble on the hillside, or in 
the cactus hedges, while the rich notes of the song thrush or the 
blackbird rise from the green clumps in the valley beneath. The 
wagtail runs over the pebbles of the brook as here at home ; the 
common sparrow haunts the streets and housetops ; swallows and 
swifts skim the hillsides and grassy meadows ; and in winter the 
robin red-breast abounds. Great butterflies flit over the hillsides 
amongst the flowers, while flocks of sheep and goats dot the 
slopes and the little plain below. Through this a brook ripples, 
the only one in the valley, and thither the women and maidens 
go to fetch water in tall jars for household use. It is the one 
spring of the town, and hence must have been that which the 
mothers and daughters of Christ's day frequented. ... No won- 
der in spring Nazareth should have been thought a paradise, or 
that it should be spoken of as perhaps the only spot in Palestine 
where the mind feels relief from the unequaled desolation that 
reigns nearly everywhere else." 

The summit of the hill on which Nazareth is built 
rises back of the town and high above it. Below is a 
valley on the northwest side of which the city stands. 

"Certainly," says Farrar, "there is no child of ten years old 
in Nazareth now, however dull and unimpressionable he may be, 
who has not often wandered up to it. And certainly there could 
have been no boy at Nazareth in olden days who had not followed 
the common instinct of humanity by climbing up those thymy 
hill-slopes to the lovely and easily accessible spot which gives a 
view of the world beyond. . . . The view from this spot would 
in any country be regarded as extraordinarily beautiful, rich and 
lovely ; but it receives a yet more indescribable charm from our 
belief that here with his feet among the mountain flowers, and 
the soft breeze lifting the hair from his temples, Jesus must often 
have watched the eagles poised in the cloudless blue ; and having 
gazed upwards as he heard overhead the rushing plumes of the 
long line of pelicans, as they winged their way from the stream 
of Kishon to the Lake of Galilee. And what a vision would be 
outspread before him as he sat at spring time on the green and 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 



59 



thyme-besprinkled turf. ... To the north . . . the narrow and 
fertile plain of Asochis, . . . the wood-crowned hills of Naph tali 
and . . . beyond these on the far horizon, Hermon . , . white 
with eternal snows. Eastward at a few miles distance . . . 
Tabor. To the west the purple ridge of Carmel, among whose 
forests Elijah had found a home ; . . . and the dazzling line of 
white sand ... of the Mediterranean. . . . Southward, broken 
only by the graceful outlines of little Hermon and Gilboa, lay the 
entire plain of Esdraelon, so memorable in the history of Pales- 
tine and of the world." 




MOUNT CARMEIv. 



"The view from Nazareth itself is limited, as might 
be expected from its nestling in an amphitheatre of hills 
that shut in the little valley, except to the west where it 
opens on Esdraelon. From the top of the hill at the 
back of the village, to the north, however, it is very 
different. Galilee lies spread out like a map at one's 
feet." 



60 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

L,et not him who pictures to himself this quiet moun- 
tain village think of it as a place of solitude, far from the 
influence of the outer life, and this elevated spot only as 
affording a distant view of the world beyond. Great 
cities and villages were near at hand — Sepphoris, the rich 
and populous capital of Galilee, but three hours distant ; 
while five great highways of travel and commerce passed 
through or near by, linking Syria, Egypt and Pales-' 
tine, Damascus, Ptolemais, Jerusalem and Sepphoris 
together. Nazareth seems to have been ' ' the crossing- 
place of the nations. ' ' 

Perhaps this passing heathen traffic may have given 
cause for the bad name that Nazareth had. However 
that may have been, the child Jesus rose above all the 
temptations of the place, which he knew and felt for 
our sakes ; but his sinless nature yielded only to the 
influence of the good about him. From the contempla- 
tion of nature he looked up in daily adoration to nature's 
God, his heavenly Father. 

Another influence at work in the development of the 
child Jesus was the home. It was the duty of both pa- 
rents to train the child in the scriptures as the basis of a 
moral and religious life, and we can imagine the mother 
of Jesus not only teaching him to read the scriptures, 
but hearing him recite those which he had committed to 
memory. His was an humble home and a simple life ; 
not like the gorgeous pictures of wealth and luxury pic- 
tured by the artists of the Middle Ages, who represent 
the Virgin and her Child seated on stately thrones, 
upon floors of splendid mosaic, under canopies of blue 
and gold, robed in colors rich as the hues of summer, or 
delicate as the flowers of spring, and the edges of their 
robes fitted with golden embroidery and clasped with 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 



61 



priceless gems. Far different was the reality. "Their 
life was spent not in the full light of notoriety and 
wealth, but in secrecy, poverty and manual labor." 




A STREET IN NAZARETH. 



One may go to Nazareth to-day and see the homes 
and the children that dwell in them, much the same as 
they were in the days of Christ. Says Farrar : 

'• He lived as did other children of peasant parents in that quiet 



62 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

town, and in great measure as they live now. He who has seen 
the children of Nazareth in their red caftans and bright tunics of 
silk or cloth, girded with a many-colored sash, and sometimes 
covered with a loose outer jacket of blue or white, — he who has 
watched their noisy and merry games, and heard their ringing 
laughter as they wandered about the hills of their little native 
vale, or played in bands on the hillside beside their sweet and 
abundant fountain, may perhaps form some conception of how 
Jesus looked and pla} T ed when he too was a child. 

1 ' And the traveler who has followed any of these children as I 
have done to their simple homes, and seen the scanty furniture, 
the plain but sweet and wholesome food, the uneventful, happy, 
patriarchal life, may form a vivid conception of the manner in 
which Jesus lived. Nothing can be plainer than these houses, 
with the doves sunning themselves on the white roofs, and the 
vines wreathing about them. The mats or carpets are laid loose 
along the walls ; shoes and sandals are taken off at the threshold ; 
from the centre hangs a lamp, which forms the only ornament of 
the room ; in some recess in the wall is placed the wooden chest, 
painted with bright colors, which contains the books or other 
possessions of the family ; on the ledge that runs around the wall, 
within easy reach, are neatly rolled up the gay-colored quilts, 
which serve as beds, and on the same ledge are ranged the 
earthen vessels for daily use ; near the door stand the large, com- 
mon water jars of red cla}^, with a few twigs and green leaves — 
often of aromatic shrubs — thrust into their orifices to keep the 
water cool. At meal-time a painted wooden stool is placed in the 
middle of the apartment. A large tray is put upon it, and in the 
middle of the tray stands a dish of rice, or meat, or libban, or 
stewed fruits, from which all help themselves in common. But 
before and after the meal, the servant or the youngest member of 
the family pours water over the hands from a brazen ewer over a 
brazen bowl. So quiet, so simple, so uneventful was the outward 
life of the family at Nazareth. 

1 ' Yet this poverty was not pauperism ; there was nothing in it 
either miserable or abject ; it was sweet, simple, contented, happy, 
even joyous. Mary, like others of her rank, would spin, and 
cook food, and go to buy fruit, and, evening by evening, visit the 
fountain still called after her, 'The Virgin's Fountain,' with her 
pitcher of earthenware, carried on her shoulder or her head. 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 



63 



Jesus would play and learn, and help his parents in their daily 
tasks, and visit the synagogues on the Sabbath days." 

A beautiful dream-story from the pen of Luther is 
told of the childhood of Jesus, that is worth relating : 

"It is written that there was once a pious, godly 
bishop, who had often earnestly prayed that God would 
manifest to him what Jesus had done in his youth. 
Once the bishop had a dream to this effect : He seemed 
to see in his sleep a carpenter working at his trade, 




A CARPENTER'S SHOP AT NAZARETH. 



beside him a little boy who was gathering up chips, 
then came in a maiden clothed in green, who called 
them both to come to the meal and set porridge before 
them. All this the bishop seemed to see in his dream, 
himself standing behind the door that he might not be 
perceived. Then the little boy began and said, ' Why 
does that man stand there? shall he not also eat with 
us ? ' and this so frightened the bishop that he awoke. 



6 4 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



Let this be what it may," adds L,uther, "a true story 
or a fable, I none the less believe that Christ in his 
childhood and youth looked and acted like other chil- 
dren, yet without sin in fashion like a man." 

Some say other children, sons and daughters, were 
born to Joseph and Mary, and that Jesus dwelt with them 
all in peace and love. When he was eighteen years old, 
tradition says, Joseph died, and the support of the 
family rested mainly on Jesus, because the older, who 
worked, it is said, at the humble occupation of his 
father, the village worker in wood, to provide the neces- 
sities of life for all ; so that, with work and play, his 
physical development kept pace with his mind and 
heart. 




INTERIOR OF A- GREEK CHURCH. 



THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 65 



1 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 
I,uke ii. 41-52.— Nazareth and Jerusalem, a.d. 8. 

T would be under Joseph's roof as a silken nest, 
with the counsels of Joseph and the gentle and 
lofty devoutness of Mary, that the young soul, destined 
one day to be so great, would learn its richest lessons of 
childhood. ' ' Yet in the growth and development of Jesus 
in his moral and religious life, we must take into account 
the common school of the Rabbis for the education of 
boys, found in every village, in which the Scriptures 
were the basis of instruction, as they were also in the 
synagogue with its public services. 

Synagogue is a name first given to a congregation of 
Jews— of ten or more — assembled together for religious 
worship ; but, like our word church, it is also used to 
designate the house in which the people met. Centuries 
before Christ, in the great city of Babylon, far away 
from the holy city and its temple, the Jewish captives 
still maintained the worship of Jehovah. Deprived of 
their temple, they formed synagogues for prayer and 
praise and the reading of God's word. After the return 
from captivity the synagogue was kept up, and was 
found finally in every part of the world wherever Jews 
dwelt in sufficient numbers. 

There were hundreds of synagogues at Jerusalem ; 
there were many at Alexandria ; at least one at Naza- 
reth ; and ten at Damascus. They were scattered all 
over Palestine, as their ruins testify at the present day. 



66 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

They were in form like the temple, but unlike that 
sacred edifice in one thing : that while the people as- 
sembled out in the courts of the temple to worship, the 
worshipers gathered inside the synagogue. The syna- 
gogue was more like our present houses of worship. It 
was always rectangular in shape, its longest dimensions 
extending nearly north and south, with its entrance 
almost always facing the south. It was built of native 
limestone finely dressed, and over the entrances, three 
in number, and opening into the aisles, were sculptures 
of the golden candlestick, or of the pot of manna, or of 
the paschal lamb, or of the vine. The floors were of 
stone, and four rows of columns with ornamental Ionic 
and Corinthian capitals upheld the flat roof. 

There were services morning, afternoon and night 
in the synagogues, and it was the duty of the pious 
Jew to attend each service. The special times of public 
worship were feast days and market days (Monday, 
Thursday), and the Sabbath. The rabbis and elders 
sat on raised cushions, "the chief seats," in the rear 
end of the house, facing the people, and with their 
backs to a curtain representing the holy of holies 
in the temple. Behind this curtain, in a recess, were 
kept the sacred rolls, wrapped in a cover of linen and 
silk and adorned with silver and gold. Before the 
shrine hung a lamp that never went out, in imitation of 
the "eternal fire" in the temple, and beside it stood 
a representation of the golden candlestick with its seven 
branches. 

The officers of the synagogue consisted of the elders, 
one of whom acted as head, or "ruler." He was form- 
ally set apart by the laying on of hands. This council 
of elders sentenced offenders, dispensed charities and 



68 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

attended to strangers. The hazan, or ' ' minister, ' ' was 
an inferior officer who had charge of the building. His 
was the work of the modern sexton, like cleaning the 
lamps, opening and closing the house ; sometimes he 
led the prayers and chants. He also handed the roll of 
the law to the reader, to whom he pointed out the 
lesson for the day. The reader blew the trumpet at the 
new moon and strewed ashes on his head on fast days, 
as the representative of the congregation. 

' ' A curious feature of the organization was that in 
each synagogue ten men, known as Batlamin, were paid 
to attend every service from its opening to its close, that 
there might never be fewer present than the rabbis re- 
quired to constitute lawful service. ' ' Perhaps it was in 
reference to this law of the rabbis that Christ said, 
"where two or three are gathered together in my name 
there am I in the midst of them." The worship was 
simple and impressive ; prayers and the reading of the 
law and the prophets, chanted by the reader, to which 
the people responded. The opening service was a silent 
prayer, during which all stood, as they did during all 
the prayers. When seated they sat on the floor — the 
men, with covered heads, facing the vail, and the 
women, with veiled faces, sitting on one side of the 
building with their backs toward the men. 

In going to the synagogue, which was a very sacred 
place to the Jew, the men could walk through any 
street, but the mothers and daughters went by back 
streets and unfrequented ways, dressed in all the colors 
of the rainbow, as they do in that country to-day. 

Prayers were read and short addresses and exhorta- 
tions were made from the scripture for the day. Any 
one, not a minor, could lead the worship, but a priest, if 



THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 69 

present, had the preference, then a Levite, and after 
that any one who was capable. 

Among the few relics of these synagogue prayers we 
find some references to the expected Messiah, which 
must have been of frequent occurrence, for example : 
"The robes with which he will clothe the Messiah will 
shine from one end of the world to the other. " " And 
the sons of Israel will rejoice in his light and will say, 
' Blessed be the hour when the Messiah was born ; 
blessed be the eyes counted worthy to see him.' " "O 
how blessed is Israel, for whom such a lot is reserved." 

"Such a circle of synagogue services constantly re- 
peated, we must believe that the child Jesus frequented 
from his earliest years, day by day, and week by week. 
The influence of an institution in which the law was 
read through every year on the Sabbath, and, in 
part, twice each week, with extra meetings on special 
high-days, in which the prophets and Psalms were con- 
stantly brought before the congregation, . . . must 
have been great. ' ' 

It was in the synagogue that Jesus grew up to man- 
hood's estate, and here he learned much of the law 
and heard the various religious teachings — some true 
and some erroneous — of the expositors of the word 
of God. As he was taught pre-eminently of God, he 
was then and there prepared for his life-work as a 
teacher of Israel, and the influences of the synagogue 
are traceable in his whole public life as given in the 
gospels. The language of the people was Syrio-Chal- 
daic, and he probably learned others. He would, no 
doubt, learn to read and write Hebrew — at that time 
a dead language — and would also acquire a knowledge 
of the Greek. 



JO THE STORY OF JESUS. 

We enter now a wider field of educational influences. 
Every Jew was required to go to the city of Jerusalem 
several times a year to worship God in the temple, and 
to keep the solemn feasts. There he met the great 
leaders and teachers of the nation and people from every 
portion of Palestine and of the known world. Pious 
parents were accustomed to use every means for the 
religious training of their children, and were required 
to take them, when they had reached a certain age, to 
Jerusalem with them three times a year to the feasts. 
Joseph and Mary doubtless went to Jerusalem every 
year to attend the Passover. It was a season of uni- 
versal joy, and wives and children also attended the 
feast, although the paschal lamb was eaten by males 
only. When he was twelve years of age, Jesus, accord- 
ing to the law, was taken to Jerusalem to the Passover 
for the first time. 

We can well imagine the interest this remarkable 
child took in the journey. Probably, again and again, 
when his parents were going to the holy city, he had 
asked to go, and as often received the promise that when 
he had reached the proper age he should accompany 
them. He may have gone with them to the edge of 
the hills and watched them descend into the valley of 
Esdraelon. And now the anxiously-looked-for time is 
at hand, and the preparations are all made, and parents 
and child start out on their journey. It may be that he 
had often been told how he was taken to the temple 
when a child, and the words of Anna and Simeon had 
been repeated to him. This journey was to open up a 
new world — one of which he had heard so much and 
which seemed to him so full of wonders. 

Passing through the defile of the mountains, they 



THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 71 

soon tread the path across the valley of Esdraelon, 
and over the mountains that separate Galilee from Sa- 
maria. Journeying southward through the land of 
Samaria, they approach Jerusalem on the north, and 
look upon its walls and fortresses, its palaces and tem- 
ple. It is said that even the Gentile beholder was 
struck with amazement when, for the first time, the 
sight of the city broke upon his vision ; and who can tell 
the feelings of the Jewish child Jesus when he saw the 
City of David his father spread out before him in its 
glory? Descending the intervening valley and then 
ascending the opposite hills, he at length enters the 
gates and walks through the streets along with the 
crowd of pilgrims. How he must have rejoiced on first 
seeing the holy city, though he afterwards wept over its 
impending doom! 

The Passover feast which brought this pious family to 
Jerusalem was a national religious celebration in com- 
memoration of the time when the Lord passed over the 
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when the 
first-born of the Egyptians were all destroyed and the 
Hebrews were delivered from Egyptian bondage. It is 
observed during the month Abib, or Nisan, — answering 
to the latter part of March and the first of April. The 
feast was held seven days — from the 15 th to the 21st of 
the month. On the second day of the paschal week, 
the law required that a sheaf of barley should be of- 
fered up, as the first fruits of the harvest. From this 
day was reckoned seven weeks to the feast of Pentecost, 
called also the feast of weeks and the feast of harvest. 
At the call of the trumpet the people flocked into the 
open gates of the temple, through the court-yard set 
apart for the Gentiles or heathen, into the court of the 



72 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



women, where the families tarried, while men, unac- 
companied, passed on into the court of the Israelites. 
The priests were still nearer the temple, in the court of 
the priests. 




EASTERN ASSES AND DRIVER. 



During all this period the people ate unleavened 
bread, and hence the festival was also called the feast 
of unleavened bread. On the evening of the fourteenth 
day all the leaven or yeast in the family was carefully 



THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 73 

removed — a custom observed by the Jews to the pre- 
sent time. On the tenth day of the month the master 
of the family separated a lamb or a goat, of a year 
old, from the flock, which a priest or a Levite killed 
on the fourteenth day before the altar in the temple. 
This animal was commonly slain about three o'clock 
in the afternoon. The blood of the Paschal lamb was 
at first sprinkled on the door-posts of the houses ; after- 
wards it was poured by the priests at the foot of the 
altar. 

The lamb thus slain was taken by the family to their 
temporary abode in the city, and its skin given to the 
host who entertained them. The lamb itself was roasted 
whole with two spits run through it, one lengthwise 
and one transversely, crossing each other near the fore- 
legs ; so that the animal was in a manner crucified, 
but not a bone of it might be broken — circumstances 
strongly representing the sufferings of our Lord Jesus, 
the Passover slain for us. The roasted lamb was then 
eaten with wild and bitter herbs. Not fewer than ten 
nor more than twenty persons composed each company 
at these sacred feasts. The first Passover was eaten 
with loins girt about, with sandals on their feet, and 
with all the preparations for an immediate journey. 
This is significant of the haste with which they were 
about to depart from the land of bondage. This cus- 
tom was afterwards retained in observing the feast. 

The ceremony began with a cup of wine mingled 
with water, after having given thanks to God for it. 
This was the first cup. Then followed the washing of 
hands, with another short form of thanksgiving to God. 
The table was then supplied with the provisions, which 
consisted of bitter salad, unleavened bread, the lamb 
4 



74 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

and a thick sauce composed of dates, figs, raisins and 
vinegar. A small quantity of salad was then taken and 
eaten with another thanksgiving, after which all the 
dishes were removed from the table and a second cup of 
wine set before each guest, as at first. The dishes were 
removed, it is said, to excite the curiosity of the chil- 
dren and to lead them to make inquiry into the cause of 
this observance. The leading person at the feast then 
began and rehearsed the history of the servitude of the 
Jews in Egypt, the manner of their deliverance and the 
reason of instituting the Passover. The dishes were 
then returned to the table, and he said, " This is the 
Passover which we eat because that the Lord passed 
over the homes of our fathers in Egypt ; ' ' and then, 
holding up the salad and unleavened bread, he stated 
their design, that is, that one represented the bitter- 
ness of the Egyptian bondage, and the other the sudden- 
ness of their deliverance. 

This done, he repeated the 113th and 114th Psalms, 
offered a short prayer, and all the company drank the 
wine that had been standing some time before them. 
This was the second cup. The hands were now again 
washed, and the meal then eaten, with the usual forms 
and solemnities, after which they washed the hands 
again, and then drank another cup of wine, called the 
cup of blessing, because the leader was accustomed in 
a particular manner over that cup to offer thanks to 
God for his goodness. There was still another cup, 
which was drank when they were about to separate, 
called the Hallel, because in connection with it they 
were accustomed to repeat the lesson Hallel, or the 
115th, 116th, 117th and 118th Psalms. 

It seems clear that the wine drank at the Passover, 



THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 75 

like that now used in the Jewish feasts, was not intoxi- 
cating and contained no alcohol whatever. 

The temple was kept open all that night, for the feast 
began in the evening, and after the lamb was eaten and 
all the remnants consumed by fire the people mostly 
went back into the temple, for there was no sleep 
to their eyes at that time. Jerusalem at such seasons 
w r as crowded with the multitudes who came from all parts 
of the world, sometimes numbering nearly three millions. 
Private families opened their houses to the visitors, 
and when they were full, tents were- set up in every 
available place in the city and without ; the Mount of 
Olives was often covered with the vast encampment. 

How strange to the expanding mindof the youth Jesus 
must all these things have appeared. Intensely inter- 
ested and absorbed, he allows his parents at the close of 
the festivities to set out on their return without him, 
while he again resorts to the temple to learn more about 
these things, which he looks upon with growing inter- 
est. The temple, its priesthood, its altar, its sacrifices, its 
furniture, its holy places, and, above all, the law, God's 
written word, are to him subjects of earnest inquiry. 

In the crowd of pilgrims on the homeward march the 
child is not missed, because supposed to be with some of 
the many relatives and friends journeying towards Naz- 
areth, until, at the close of the first day, the travelers 
halt for repose. Failing to find him in the company, 
the anxious parents retrace their steps and find him 
at last in the saboul of the temple seated among the 
learned men of the nation, reverently asking and an- 
swering questions, and surprising his hearers by the 
wisdom of his questions and his answers. 

To the gentle rebuke of his affectionate mother he 



7 6 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



replies: "Know ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business?" and yet with this consciousness 
of a great work in the temple, he recognizes that God 
has a work for him at home, and submitting to his 
earthly parents, he returns at once with them and is sub- 
ject to them until the time should come for him to enter 
upon his public ministry. 




BOOK THIRD, 



FROM THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAP- 
TIST TO THE FIRST PASSOVER IN 
THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS. 

A PERIOD OF ABOUT ONE YEAR, FROM THE SPRING OF A.D. 26 
TO THAT OF A.D. 27. 



(77) 




REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. 



(78) 



THE FORERUNNER. 79 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FORERUNNER. 

Matt. iii. 1-12 ; Mark i. 1-8 : Luke iii. 1-18.— Wilderness of Jndea, west of the 
Jordan and at the Jordan, a.d. 26. 

JOHN, called the Baptist, passed his boyhood, and his . 
manhood until his showing to Israel, when he was 
thirty years of age, in and about Hebron and in 
about the wilderness of Judea. 

"The wilderness to which John withdrew stretches far and 
near over the whole eastern part of Jndea, beginning almost at 
Jerusalem, and reaching away, under different names, to the 
Dead Sea and the southern desert, as its distant limits. It is a 
dreary waste of rocky valleys, in some parts stern and terrible — 
the rocks cleft and shattered by earthquakes and convulsions 
into rifts and gorges sometimes a thousand feet in depth, though 
only thirty or forty in width ; in others, stretching out in 
chalk hills, full of caves, or in white, flint-bound ridges and 
winding, muddy wadys, with an occasional reservoir hewn in 
the hard lime-stone, to supply water in a country destitute of 
springs. One may travel all day and see no other life than the 
desert partridge and a chance fox or vulture. Only the dry and 
fleshy plants, which require no water, grow on the hills, and in 
the valleys, the most luxuriant vegetation is the wild broom 
bushes, which blossom in March and April. The Hebrews fitly 
call it this desert, 'Jeshimon,' 'the appalling desolation,' or 
' horror ' ; for it is not possible to conceive a more desolate region. 
Parts of it are deserted even by the Arabs." 

Portions of this waste are entirely impassable, and 
there is but one natural site for a town — in the opening 
at the foot of the pass Engedi, " the spring of the wild 
goats." The spring is 500 feet above the shore of the 



80 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Dead Sea, and almost unapproachable from above, down 
cliffs twelve hundred feet high. Here was the ' ' Spring 
of Engedi," and below it are the ruins of the ancient 
town. The Essenes, a religious, ascetic or hermit sect 
of the Jews, had their colony near by the spring in 
John's day. 

As a Nazarite from his birth, denying himself every 
luxury of life, and living upon the plainest food, dress- 
ing in the simplest attire, and drinking nothing but 
water, he retired from the presence of man to pre- 
pare himself for his great life-work. He mourned over 
the sorrows and sins of God's people, and doubtless be- 
sieged God for their deliverance. He sought strict 
isolation — deep solitude. u In the neighboring wilder- 
ness, where the venomous viper glided among the 
stones, and the scorpion, the fox, the vulture, or the 
raven, were almost the only signs of life ; where drought 
reigned, and the waterless hills and stony valleys were 
symbols of utter desolation, — in some cave, perhaps in 
the depth of a deep and narrow gorge, that at least gave 
shelter from the pitiless heat and glare of an eastern 
sun, John took up his abode, to be alone with God and 
his own soul, and the better be able to fulfill the life- 
long vow that separated him from men. ' ' 

When John began his ministry he appeared among 
men as he had lived in his seclusion, — clothed in gar- 
ments made of the coarsest camel's hair, with a leather 
girdle around his waist, and living upon locusts and wild 
honey. In the desert where John lived locusts abound, 
whose wings are u of scarlet, crimson, blue, yellow, 
white, green or brown, according to the species." To 
this day they are caught by the Arabs and boiled, salted, 
dried, and, when served with butter, are eaten with relish. 



THE FORERUNNER. 8 1 

As to honey, the rocks of the wilderness abounded with 
it, as they do to-day. Upon this simple diet John lived, 
and in this plain dress he appeared when he began his 
work. But there was no prejudice existing in the Jew- 
ish mind against a claimant for prophetic honors on the 
grounds of his mean dress or uncombed hair. Moses 
had gone to the wilderness of Midian and Sinai to pre- 
pare to lead Israel, and the prophets had loved the soli- 
tude of the desert. 

John came in a time of profound peace extending 
almost over the entire Roman empire, which meant the 
whole civilized or the then known world. Palestine was 
not the wasted and poverty-stricken country it now is ; 
but the land was in a high state of cultivation, crowded 
with people and dotted all over with cities. " New cities 
and towns, with all the elegancies and splendor of 
Roman civilization, had risen all over the land." 

But the times were corrupt. Roman arms had intro- 
duced western idolatry and wealth, and with these came 
luxury and vice. The Jewish throne was occupied by 
usurpers, depraved and vile. The high-priesthood, a 
sacred office, was given or sold to hirelings too, ready to 
do the will of the tyrant. John did well to lift up his 
voice. The nation needed to be saved from themselves, 
for the people, as well as their leaders, were corrupt. 
The scribes and Pharisees partook of the general corrup- 
tion of the times. The people hoped to be saved from 
the bondage of Rome, but John, seeking to save them 
from their sins, called upon them to repent and turn to 
Jesus. 

In the fifteenth year of the Roman emperor Tiberius, 
when that tyrant was seventy- two years of age, and 
when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, 

4* 



8 2 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

and Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee, and his 
brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of 
Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, or the 
land beyond the Jordan, Annas and Caiaphas being high- 
priests, the word of God came to John in the wilderness, 
and he came into the country about Jordan preaching 
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 
John knew his mission, from the instruction of his 
parents, and from the call of God, to be the forerunner 
of the Messiah, and hence he proclaimed himself a 
Voice calling men to prepare for the coming of the Lord. 
Not one word escaped him even intimating that he 
looked for an earthly kingdom or political power, but 
on the contrary, John's conception of the kingdom of 
the Messiah was spiritual, and hence his call to repen- 
tance. Multitudes of people from Jerusalem, and all 
Judea, and the region round about Jordan, came to his 
preaching and baptism. 

Hearing the call of God to repent, many confessed 
their sins and were baptized by John in the river Jordan. 
When the Pharisees and Sadducees, religious sects of 
the Jews, remarkable for pride and formalism, demanded 
baptism, John refused them, denouncing them as a gen- 
eration of venomous vipers, as impenitent and trusting 
to the merits of their father Abraham, while refusing to 
confess and forsake their sins. God is able, of these 
loose stones of the desert, to raise up children unto 
Abraham, John said ; and he warned them that the axe 
was laid at the root of the tree, and that every tree that 
did not bring forth good fruit would be cut down and 
cast into the fire. He doubtless meant that personally, 
and as a nation, they must repent or otherwise perish ; 
that now the day for judgment had come, and that as a 



84 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

nation they would be rejected unless they received the 
new kingdom. He also reveals the truth that their 
Messiah would come to sift even Israel, and to burn up 
the impenitent as worthless chaff. 

"Why do you then baptize, if you are neither Elias 
nor the prophet?" they ask. To this he replied: "I 
indeed baptize with water, but one mightier than I 
cometh the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to 
unloose [or the fastening of whose sandal, which was the 
little slave boy's duty] : he shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire ; whose fan [like the farmer 
who separates the chaff from the wheat] is in his right 
hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will 
gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will 
burn with fire unquenchable." 

These Pharisees and Sadducees were guilty leaders of 
a guilty nation. Others who came to hear him and who, 
confessing their sins, were baptized, were men of the 
various classes, who asked John as to their duties under 
the coming kingdom. To each class he gives advice 
adapted to their circumstances. To the people generally 
he said, ' ' He that hath two coats let him impart to him 
that hath none ; and he that hath meat let him do like- 
wise." To the extortionate publicans, who as tax- 
gatherers might well ask as to their duties .under the 
new reign, he said, u Exact no more than that which is 
appointed you," and to the inquiry of the soldiers he 
replied, that their duty in the army of the coming king 
was, "Do violence to no man. Neither accuse any 
falsely, and be content with your wages." 

At this time Jesus had not yet appeared. As the Mes- 
siah he was unknown to John, but the Baptist knew well 
that his own mission was as the forerunner of the Mes- 



THE FORERUNNER. 



85 



siah ; hence he adds his testimony to the Christ in point- 
ing away from himself. I know not who he is, but his 
kingdom is at hand ; he is greater than I, who am un- 
worthy to perform for him the most menial services ; and 
when he comes he will have power to confer the highest 
blessing of the divine Spirit on men, and to save or to 
destroy. 




WILDERNESS OF JUDEA, 



86 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 

Matt. iii. 13-17 ; Mark i. 9-11 ; L/uke iii. 21-23.— River Jordan opposite Jericho, 

a.d. 26. 

THE Jordan, the river of Palestine, divides the land, 
running north and south throughout its length. 
It rises in the hills of Lebanon, and in the brooks 
and springs about Csesarea Philippiinthe north, and flows 
through the marshy lake of Merom and through the Sea 
of Galilee, which, in a direct line, is sixty miles from the 
Dead Sea, into which it pours, but two hundred miles to 
follow the many windings of the river. It has double 
banks, one of which it reaches at flood times in spring, and 
within the other it recedes in autumn when the water is 
low. The stream is rapid in its flow, and about ninety feet 
wide near its mouth, where it empties into the Dead Sea. 
The valley of the Jordan is a green spot in the midst of 
desolation, — a basin surrounded by the distant hills, 
whose ranges run along both sides of the river. The 
plain of the Jordan is "even as the garden of the Lord." 
The western bank is covered with dense vegetation, or 
forests of reeds on the lower level, while numberless 
trees, tamarisks, sycamores, oaks, acacias, willows and 
oleanders, and swamps with reeds, cover the upper ter- 
race. Above this second terrace, and about sixty feet 
higher, is a barren plain which stretches westward to the 
foot of the Jewish hills. 

The plain on the east, now named El Ghor, but 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 



87 



once known as the ''Circle of the Jordan," is a vast 
sandy expanse, hot and unhealthy, extending from the 
narrow fringe of green on the margin of the Jordan to 
the mountains of Perea, which lift their heads from two 
to five thousand feet high. This place formed, in 
John's day, a strong contrast to "the green paradise 
on the western bank — 'the divine land,' immediately 
around Jericho, the city of palms and roses — as it still 




PLAIN OF THE JORDAN. 

does to the rich fringe of vegetation skirting the waters 
on the eastern side of the river, but vanishing like a 
dream at only a few paces from them." 

There are two or three spots along the Jordan spoken 
of as the places where John baptized. At first he bap- 
tized on the west side of the river, near its entrance into 
the Dead Sea, at the pass, or ford, opposite Jericho. 
Then, again, higher up, above the river Jabbok, on the 



88 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

banks of which Jacob wrestled with the angel, was 
Bethabara or Bethany, beyond or on the eastern side of 
Jordan, where John bore testimony to Jesus ; and finally 
at " iEnon, near to Salim, because there were many 
waters there." It is probable, as Dr. Smith says in his 
Dictionary of the Bible, that, as the summer season ad- 
vanced, the river became low, and John sought the 
neighborhood of Salim, because there water for his pur- 
pose could be had. Dean Stanley says of the locality, 
that iEnon means " the springs." 

In going up the river northward, John seems to have 
been influenced by two considerations — to seek the peo- 
ple and to find a convenient place for baptism. But in 
all these removals he was drawing nearer to Galilee, in 
the jurisdiction of Herod, by whom he was afterwards 
beheaded. 

It was at the ford of the river opposite Jericho, where 
John was preaching when Jesus came to him for bap- 
tism. When "all the people were baptized," Jesus, who 
was now about thirty years of age, submitted to the 
sacred rite. Not one word is said about his leaving his 
home at Nazareth, nor of the journey, but it was one of 
the important steps of his life. He passed from private 
to public life when he presented himself to John for 
baptism, and at this time he probably entered into a 
full consciousness of his life-work, and began the exer- 
cise of his divine powers, being now clothed with the 
full power of the Holy Spirit. 

When Jesus asked baptism of John he was at first 
refused. He who had boldly confronted the crafty 
scribes and the hypocritical Pharisees and denounced 
their sin, is now himself abashed before the Divine Man, 
and, feeling his own sense of unworthiness, says, "I have 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 89 

need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me ? ' ' 
Was it a recognition of the divine personality that caused 
John to shrink from Jesus, as the soldiers did who came 
to arrest him in the garden, or as Peter, who cried, 
' ' Depart from me, for I am a sinful man ? ' ' Possibly, 
though some prefer to believe that John knew his cousin 
Jesus, not yet as the Messiah, but as a man of irreproach- 
able character and blameless life, and that he here 
bears testimony to what he knows of his character as a 
man. Afterwards John received the sign by which 
Jesus was pointed out to him as the Christ. 

The answer of Jesus to John's objection is remarka- 
ble : ' ' Suffer it now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness." That is, you should permit it because 
it is becoming and right in me, as in all of us, to obey 
all the commands of God and the ordinances of religion. 
No one is exempt on the ground of his moral excel- 
lence from keeping this ordinance of baptism, which is 
from heaven, and has God's sanction. Then John bap- 
tized him. And as Jesus, was "coming up out of the 
water." praying as he came, the heavens were opened, 
as they were to Stephen at his death, and John saw the 
Spirit of God descending upon Jesus in the form of a 
dove, the symbol of peace and purity and gentleness. 
John also heard a voice from heaven, saying, in words 
of approbation, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
well pleased." Again we have in the dove and the 
voice the supernatural testimony to the Messiahship of 
Jesus. These witnesses at his baptism, like those at his 
birth, cannot be misunderstood. 

"Everything about the work of Jesus was wonder- 
ful," says Barnes. "No person had before come into 
the world under such circumstances. God would not 



90 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

have attended the commencement of his life with such 
wonderful events, if it had not been of the greatest mo- 
ment to our race, and if he had not possessed a dignity 
above all prophets, kings and priests ! He was the Re- 
deemer of men, the mighty God, the Father of eternity, 
the Prince of peace, and it was proper that a voice from 
heaven should declare it, that angels should attend him, 
and the Holy Spirit signalize his baptism by his per- 
sonal presence. " 
Hanna says : 

" As Jesus stepped forth after the baptism on the banks of the 
river, he stood severed from the past, connected with a new fu- 
ture ; Nazareth, its quiet home, its happy days, its peaceful occu- 
pations, lay behind ; trials and toils, suffering and death lay be- 
fore him. He would not have been the Son of man had he not 
felt the significance and solemnity of the hour. He turns, in the 
pure, true instinct of his sinless humanity, to throw himself and 
all his future upon his Father in prayer. And then it is, as with 
uplifted hands he gazes into the heavens, that he sees them 
opened above his head, the Spirit of God descending like a dove 
and lighting on him, and hears a voice from heaven saying to 
him, ' Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased.' 
This voice was twice heard again : On the Mount of Transfigu- 
ration and within the Temple. It was the voice of the Father. 
The fall sealed the Father's lips in silence ; all divine communi- 
cations afterwards with man were made through the Son. It was 
he who appeared and spake to the patriarchs ; it was he who 
spake from the summit of Sinai, and was the giver of the law ; 
but now, for the first time, the Father's lips are opened, the 
long-kept silence is broken, that this testimony of the Father to 
the Sonship of Jesus, this expression of his entire good pleasure 
with him as he enters upon his ministry, may be given." 



THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 9 1 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 

Matt. av. i-ii ; Mark i. 12, 13 ; Luke iv. 1-13-— Wilderness of Judea, west of 
Jordan and the Dead Sea, and at Jerusalem, A D. 27. 

"T ~\ THEN Jesus was baptized and the Spirit of God 
V V descended upon him he was about thirty years 
of age. Full of the divine power, he was led 
into the solitude of the desert, to be tempted of the devil. 
It was necessary that at the very beginning of his min- 
istry for the redemption of man from the power of Satan, 
he should meet and conquer the arch enemy of the hu- 
man race. The wilderness, which was part of the scene, 
was the same as that already described lying west of the 
Jordan and the Dead Sea, and west and south of Jericho. 
Here he was away from the habitation of man, and "with 
the wild beasts, ' ' but they harmed him not, homeless and 
defenceless as he was. It was not to meet them in con- 
flict that he invaded their dominion, but him who 
11 goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may 
devour." Here, in this solitude, Jesus "fasted forty 
days and forty nights." There are other instances of 
such prolonged fasts of forty days, as that of Moses 
in the mount, and that of Elijah in the desert. The 
question whether Jesus went entirely without food dur- 
ing that time Euke seems to settle when he says, "he 
ate nothing!" Afterward he was hungry and craved 
food. It was then in the hour of weakness thac the 
devil began his trial to corrupt Jesus. That it was a 
real temptation who can doubt, when told that he ' l was 



92 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin," 
for Jesus did not yield. 

This account is no allegory, but an actual event. 
The devil is no mythical being, but a real person. He 
does not appear visibly to us now, but there is no valid 
reason to doubt his visible appearance to Jesus, who was 
himself God manifest in the flesh. He who appeared as 
the old serpent and tempted so successfully and fatally 
our first parents, might assume any other visible form. 

Christ's temptation came as did that of Eve, from 
without. The tempter first appealed to his bodily neces- 
sities, but not wholly so. Command that these loose 
stones of the desert be made bread and satisfy your hun- 
ger and save your life, says Satan, "If thou be the Son 
of God." The devil was evidently present at the bap- 
tism of Jesus and heard the voice from heaven declare, 
"This is my beloved Son," and now he demands proof 
and challenges the claim that Jesus is God's Son. But 
the reply of our Saviour to this seemingly proper and 
reasonable request is remarkable : " Man shall not live 
by bread alone, but by every word that procee.deth out of 
the mouth of God. ' ' In the wilderness and the wander- 
ings of Israel, God the Father had provided water and 
bread for his children, and the Son of God, Jesus, would 
not be left in want — he could trust the words of the 
promise. As a man Jesus was dependent upon the lov- 
ing care of his heavenly Father. 

" He who thinks we live by bread alone, will make 
the securing of bread the chief object of his life — will 
determine to have it at whatever cost — will be at once 
miserable and rebellious. If even for a time he be 
stinted or deprived of it, and because he seeks no 
diviner food, will inevitably starve with hunger in the 



THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 



93 



midst of it. But he who knows that man doth not live 
by bread alone, will not thus for the sake of living lose 
all that makes life so dear— will, when he has done his 




THEN WAS JESUS I,ED UP. 

duty, trust God to preserve, with all things needful, 
the body he has made— will seek with more earnest 
endeavor the bread from heaven, and that living water 



94 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

whereof he that drinketh shall thirst no more." The 
Spirit had directed him and the Father would care for 
him. The trust displayed by Jesus was something won- 
derful. In due time he would work his miracles for 
the glory of the Father, but never to show his power, 
nor to save himself. 

The next temptation of Jesus brings us to a change of 
scene, from the uninhabited wilderness to the crowded 
city. In one, no less than in the other, temptations 
assail man. The devil leads the Son of man into Jeru- 
salem and to the holy temple, and stands with him 
upon the pinnacle or spreading, wing-shaped roof, of 
one of the porches that surrounded the temple area or 
court, in the midst of which was the temple itself. It 
was hardly upon the roof of the temple itself, for Jose- 
phus tells us that its roof was covered with golden 
spikes, to prevent even the birds from lighting on and 
polluting it. The porch usually thought to be the one 
was that called Solomon's, which overlooked the valley 
on the south side. The wall and the porch together 
rose several hundred feet from the valley below, and 
Josephus says the head swam with dizziness to look 
down from its giddy height. Here probably the Saviour 
and the tempter stood looking into the valley beneath. 
Again the devil said : u If thou be the Son of God, cast 
thyself down ; for it is written, He shall give his angels 
charge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall 
bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against 
a stone. " 

These words of the Psalmist were appropriately refer- 
red to Christ, and here was the word of God upon which 
man could live, even when in the ordering of God he 
was in danger, but not when in peril rashly incurred. 



THE* CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 95 

To expect that would be presumption, and not faith. 
Some have thought that it was the time of some feast ; 
that the temple was crowded with people, some of whom 
at least were expecting the Lord to ' ' Come suddenly in 
his temple." By casting himself down from the lofty 
roof, Jesus, by a stupendous miracle, would prove him- 
self the long-expected Messiah, and be at once accepted 
and received as the Son of God. But again our Saviour 
sees in Satan's suggestion only a sinful temptation 
appealing to spiritual pride, and he repels Satan with 
the sword of the Spirit, the word of God : "It is written 
again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God." The 
Saviour was willing to wait for the Father's time for his 
appearing to Israel, placing himself wholly in his 
heavenly Father's hands. 

The scene changes again, but Satan still is with him, 
showing zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause. 
They are again in the desert; it may be the Saviour has 
gone apart into a mountain to pray, but fleeing from one 
temptation he plunges directly into another. Where 
this mountain was, and which one of the many hills of 
Palestine it was, is all a conjecture. Some have placed 
it near Jerusalem. From it Jesus saw the whole land 
teeming with people, cities, cultivated fields, material 
wealth. Beyond these the imagination could easily pic- 
ture the wealth and glory of surrounding nations. Satan 
showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and the 
glory of them, and offered the dominion of these to him 
for his acknowledgment by one act of worship. 

We are reminded of the temptation of Moses. When 
God selected him to deliver his people from bondage, to 
tempt him from his heaven-appointed mission, the 
riches, dominion and glory of Egypt were laid at his 



g6 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

feet. Christ was tempted with the offer of all the king- 
doms of the world. "There are some that will say," 
says Bishop Andrews, " that we are never tempted with 
kingdoms. It may be well, for it needs not be when 
less will serve. . . . We set our wares at a very easy 
price ; he may buy us even dagger cheap. ... A mat- 
ter of half a crown or ten groats, a pair of shoes, or some 
such trifle, will bring us on our knees to the devil." 

But this temptation is not to be understood as appeal- 
ing only to the ambition of the Son of man, for here 
again, as in other temptations, the appeal is to some 
higher motive of the Messiah. As if the devil had said, 
' ' You are born to be a king, and your kingdom is a 
spiritual one. But my rule is spiritual, and the king- 
doms of the world are mine, for I am ' the prince of the 
world. ' Now it will only be by way of the cross that 
you can conquer and make the kingdoms of the world 
yours, and I shall contest every step of the way. But if 
you will accept them from me, and do me reverence for 
them, I will step right out and leave you in undisputed 
sway. ' ' How grand and significant the ready reply of 
Jesus as he repels his final temptation ! * ( Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan ; thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
and him only shalt thou serve." "I shall not ask you 
for my kingdom, but shall take yours from you. I am 
here to inherit it in the Father's own way and time, and 
when I come to it, I shall receive it at his hands who 
has promised it to me, and not from yours." 

We are told in the sacred narrative that the devil then 
left him " for a season. ' ' Again and again he doubtless 
came, but his last and fiercest assault was made upon 
Jesus in the garden, on the eve of the cross, when our 
Saviour cried out in agony, "If it be possible let this 



THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 97 

cup pass from me. ' ' But first aud last, Jesus triumphed, 
and we triumph in him. ' ' In that he himself hath suf- 
fered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are 
tempted." Jesus was not left without consolation on 
this occasion. After the bitter ordeal of desert, temple 
and mountain, holy angels, from the Father's home on 
high, came and ministered unto him. They com- 
forted and strengthened and adored him, rejoicing in 
his victory over the enemy of God, of man and of 
angels. 



WAITING PI,ACE OF THE JEWS AT JERUSALEM. 



gS THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN. 
John i. 15-34. — At Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan, a d. 26, 27. 

JOHN was preaching further up the river when Jesus, 
returning in triumph from his conflict with Satan, 
came to the fords of the Jordan, near Jericho. 
" Now, when all the people, were baptized," who came 
to John, and u Jesus also being baptized," John re- 
moved to Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan. Here 
it was that Jesus found him upon his return from the 
wilderness, and listened to his teaching and saw the 
people who came to his baptism. The testimony of 
John the Baptist to the Messiahship of Jesus and the 
first call of the earliest disciples is told by John the 
evangelist alone. 

When John the Baptist came preaching, the people 
mused in their hearts whether John was the Christ or 
not. John answered them by saying, ( ' I indeed baptize 
with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet 
of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And 
John the Baptist bare witness of Jesus and said, " This 
was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is 
preferred before me. ' ' The people who thronged to his 
preaching made this inquiry of John, but the Jews at 
Jerusalem, those probably in authority, sent priests and 
Levites, who were attendants upon the temple service, 
to ask John who he was. 

John was very plain and emphatic in his testimony : 



THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN. 99 

\ ' I am not the Christ, ' ' he said. Then they asked him 
whether he was Elias, or Elijah, whom the Jews ex- 
pected would come before the Messiah, but John an- 
swered, No. Jesus said afterwards that Elijah had 
come ; and that John was he ; but Jesus did not mean 
that Elijah had risen from the dead and appeared as 
John, and it was this that John denied. Jesus meant 
that John had the spirit and mission of Elijah, and in 
this sense fulfilled prophecy. " Art thou that prophet?" 
they then asked. They referred probably to the proph- 
ecy of Moses, who declared, " A prophet shall the Lord 
your God raise up unto you like unto me. ' ' But again 
John replied, No. " Who art thou ?' ' they then asked, 
1 ' that we may bring an answer to them that sent us ? " 
John answered, "I am the voice of one crying in the 
wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord." 

The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, 
and said of him : ' ' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world." John had already pro- 
claimed himself as the forerunner or herald of the 
Christ, and now he points out Jesus as the sacrificial 
lamb, long before he suffered on the cross, and reveals 
him to the world in his true work as the suffering Mes- 
siah, making atonement for the sins of the whole world, 
and as saving all who would behold him as such. By 
true prophetic vision, by his knowledge of the prophets, 
and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, John knew all this. 
Not now with the purging fan and the purifying fire 
does John picture the Christ, but as the sin-bearing 
lamb, the antitype of those slain daily in the temple, 
and at the great feast of the Passover. 

And now the Baptist proceeds to tell the wondering 
people how he knew Jesus to be the Christ, whose 



IOO THE STORY OF JESUS. 

coming he had proclaimed, before he appeared to him 
at the Jordan. It was in his baptism, said John. It 
was revealed to me, when I was sent of God to baptize, 
that he upon whom I should see the Spirit of God de- 
scending, and remaining on him, was he who would 
baptize with the Holy Ghost. I knew him not as the 
Christ, but c ' I saw and bare record that this is the Son 
of God." It was by this familiar title, " Son of God," 
that the expected Messiah was known in the literature 
of the Jewish nation. 

There is nothing that shows the truthfulness and hon- 
esty of the Baptist more than his refusal to be honored 
by the Jews as the Christ, and his testimony that it was 
another and not he who was entitled to that exalted 
name. We could not look for stronger testimony from 
man to the Messiahship of Jesus than this. On the 
third day after the return of Satan's conqueror from the 
wilderness, John, " looking upon Jesus as he walked," 
again pointed to him, saying, "Behold the Lamb of 
God." Two of John's disciples who were with him, 
hearing his repeated declaration, left their master and 
followed Jesus. They were too timid to approach and 
speak, but Jesus turned and kindly asked them what 
they wanted. For the first time Jesus is addressed as 
Master or Rabbi, which was an acknowledgment of his 
mission to instruct the people. " Rabbi, where dwellest 
thou?" they asked. "Come and see," was the polite 
invitation of the new Master. 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. IOI 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 
John i. 35-42.— At Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan, A.r>. 27. 

IT is clear from his own words that Jesus had no 
permanent abode when these disciples of John, 
"looking upon him as he walked," followed him. 
He had given up forever his home at Nazareth for his 
public work, and now he had nowhere to lay his head. 
But he was probably sharing at this time the temporary 
abode of some friend — a common booth made of green 
branches, covered on the top with the stripped abba of 
ordinary wearing apparel. Such was the shelter of 
hundreds who came to hear John preach. 

Who were those two young men who followed Jesus 
at the suggestion of the Baptist ? One we are told was 
Andrew, the brother of Peter ; the other was doubtless 
John the evangelist, the writer of the account, who, as 
usual, modestly refrains from mentioning his own name. 
They came and saw where Jesus lived, and tarried with 
him. The very hour of the day, four in the afternoon, 
is mentioned by this eye-witness as the time of the visit. 
Probably they tarried all night. How much of the night 
was spent in conversation we are not told, but before 
they lay down to sleep they knew and felt in their in- 
most hearts that the kingdom of heaven had come, that 
the hopes of long centuries were now fulfilled, and that 
they had been in the presence of him who was " the Desire 
of all nations, the Priest greater than Aaron, the 



102 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Prophet greater than Moses, the true Star of Jacob and 
Sceptre of Israel. 7 ' 

It was customary for the rabbi or teacher among the 
Jews to select from their followers some few who were 
admitted to closer intimacy than others, and who were 
specially taught. It was also the duty of this inner 
circle to teach and defend the doctrines of their master. 
The Baptist had such disciples, and now Jesus, the new 
rabbi, also begins to gather about him a band of disciples. 

The result of John's testimony was, as we have seen > 
immediate. These disciples of the Baptist, ' ' looking 
upon Jesus as he walked,' ' followed the Lord. How did 
Jesus look " as he walked ?" is often asked. We have 
no word in the gospels from those who saw him in the 
flesh while on earth, as to how he looked to them. We 
were not probably to know. In literature we have no 
authentic description of his person. The Jewish repug- 
nance to making any picture or image of any person is 
probably one reason why we have no picture of Christ. 
In art, we have attempts at such a picture, but these 
were made years after those who saw him had died. 
Some represent him in a disgusting form, suggested no 
doubt by those who thought the appearance of our 
Saviour was described in the words of the prophet : 
" His visage was so marred," and there was " no come- 
liness" nor " beauty" in him. But there have been 
some grand conceptions of Christ in art by some of the 
world's greatest artists, in which Jesus is represented in 
the divinest human form. We interpret such scriptures 
as referring to Christ's character, as he appears to men, 
to some, beautiful and attractive, and to others, repulsive 
and not to be desired. It is doubtless true that Jesus 
was the perfection of manly beauty, neat in dress, 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 103 

cleanly in person, and refined in manners. The Jewish 
rabbi was required to be all this, and how much more 
Jesus ! 

' ' Images of Christ met at first with earnest opposi- 
tion, partly, because it seemed impossible adequately to 
represent the glorified Saviour in human form, and 
partly, because heretical sects were the first to introduce 
them. Cyril of Alexandria is credited with having 
brought them into the church." There are even now 
those who object to all representations of Christ on the 
ground that it is forbidden to make a likeness of the 
Deity; but Christ appeared in human form, and was a 
man as truly as he was the Son of God. ' ' Of his ap- 
pearance, ' ' says Augustine, ' ' we are wholly ignorant, 
for the likenesses of him vary entirely according to the 
fancy of the artist." However, there are two early 
images of Christ still extant which have some claim to 
authenticity. One is the profile head of Christ in stone, 
young and beardless, with the name Christ, in Greek, 
and the symbolical fish engraved beneath it. The other 
is also the head of Christ on a medal, with his hair 
parted over his forehead, and covering his ears, and 
falling down on his shoulders. The name of Christ is 
below in Hebrew. 

In the fifteenth century the historian Nicephorus at- 
tempted a description of Christ, which has been gen- 
erally accepted by the Eastern or Greek Church as 
a proper conception of his person. Nicephorus says : 

" I shall describe the appearance of our Lord as handed down to 
us from antiquity. He was very beautiful. His height was fully 
seven spans ; his hair bright auburn, and not too thick, and was 
inclined to wave in soft curls. His eyebrows were black and 
arched, and his eyes seemed to shed from them a gentle golden 



104 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

light. They were very beautiful. His nose was prominent. His 
beard lovely, but not very long. He wore his hair, on the con- 
trary, very long, for no scissors had ever touched it, nor any 
human hand, except that of his mother, when she played with it 
in childhood. He stooped a little, but his body was well formed. 
His complexion was that of the ripe brown wheat, and his face, 
like his mother's, rather oval than round, with onty a little red 
in it, but through it shone dignity, intelligence of soul, gentle- 
ness and a calmness of spirit never disturbed. Altogether he 
was very like his divine and immaculate mother. ' ' 

This is of course imaginary, and is on a par with the 
fictitious letter of L,entulus to the Roman senate, which 
is accepted by the Latin or Western Church. L,entulus 
writes : 

"There has appeared, and still lives a man of great virtue, 
called Jesus Christ, and by his disciples, the Son of God. He 
raises the dead and heals the sick. He is a man tall in stature, 
noble in appearance, with a reverential countenance, which at 
once attracts and keeps at a distance those beholding it. His 
hair is waving and curly, a little darker and of richer brightness 
where it flows down from the shoulders. It is divided in the 
middle after the custom of the Nazarenes, — or Nazarites. His brow 
is smooth and wondrously serene, and his features have no wrin- 
kles, nor any blemish, while a red glow makes his cheeks beauti- 
ful. His nose and mouth are perfect. He has a full, ruddy 
beard, the color of his hair, not long, but divided in two. His 
eyes are bright and seem of different colors at different times. 
He is terrible in his threatenings ; solemn in his admonitions ; 
loving and loved ; cheerful, but with abiding gravity. No one 
ever saw him smile, but he often weeps. His hands and limbs 
are perfect. He is gravely retiring, eloquent and modest, the 
fairest of the sons of men." 

" Independent of all tradition," says Farrar, " we must believe 
with reverent conviction that there could have been nothing 
mean or repugnant — that there must, as Saint Jerome says, have 
been ' something starry ' — in the form which enshrined an eter- 
nal divinity and an infinite holiness. All beauty is but 'the 
sacrament of goodness,' and a conscience so stainless and a 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 



I°5 



spirit so full of harmony, a life so purely noble, could not but ex- 
press itself in the bearing, could not but be reflected in the face 
of the Son of man. We do not, indeed, find any allusion to his 
charm of aspect ; . . . but neither on the other hand do we find 
in the language of his enemies a single word or allusion which 
might have been founded on an unworthy appearance. He of 
whom John bore witness as the Christ . . . could not have 
been without the personal majesty of a prophet or a priest. All 
the facts of his life speak convincingly of that strength, endur- 
ance, dignity and electrical influence, which none could have 
exercised without a large share of human, no less than of spir- 
itual gifts." 

Possibly his personal appearance, the charms of his 
face and attractive bearing were eclipsed before the 
majesty of his soul and the purity of his life ; and hence 
no allusion is made to his looks. 




THE DEAD SEA, 



106 THE STORY OF JESUS, 



i 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AN ISRAELITE INDEED. 
John i. 43-51.— Galilee, a.d. 27. 

IMMEDIATELY these new disciples begin the work 
of love and devotion. It is not said that John 
went to find his brother James. It may be he 
spent the following day in sweet communion with Jesus, 
whose "beloved" disciple he was to become. But An- 
drew went at once and found Simon Peter, his brother, 
probably on the banks of the Jordan, among the follow- 
ers of John, and saying, "We have found the Christ," 
brought him to Jesus. Thus the first disciple of Jesus 
was also first to bring another to the Saviour. Now 
there are millions who are doing this loving work daily. 
Andrew did not himself become very distinguished, — his 
work was a quiet one, — but he brought to Jesus one of 
the greatest apostles and a most successful laborer and 
teacher. And note the reception that the Master gives 
to Peter, who is no stranger to him, although they had 
probably never met before. When Jesus beheld him he 
said, " Thou art Simon the son of Jona ; thou shalt be 
called Cephas, ' ' which meant a stone. ( ' Thou art 
Simon, the son of a dove ; but hereafter thou shalt be as 
the solid rock in which the dove hides." 

"It was indeed a play upon a word, but one which 
was memorably symbolic and profound. None but the 
shallow and the ignorant will see in such a play upon 
the name, anything derogatory to the Saviour's dig- 
nity. The essential meaning and augury of names had 



AN ISRAELITE INDEED. 



107 



been in all ages a belief among the Jews, whose very 
language was regarded by themselves as being no less 
than the oracular gems on Aaron's breast." 

Peter is also convinced and unites with these other 
young men in recognizing the Nazarene, Jesus, as the 
Messiah of prophecy, the Son of God and the Saviour 
of the world. How long they tarried, conversing about 
the things of the kingdom, we know not, but Farrar 




SHORES OF THE LAKE GENNESARETH. 

says, that the third day after the return from the tempt- 
ation Jesus spent with his new disciples, and that on 
the fourth he started with them on his return to Gali- 
lee. On the way Jesus finds Philip, whom he evidently 
sought out. Philip was a young fisherman like Peter 
and Andrew, and lived in the same city — Bethsaida, 
on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was 
the only one of the apostles who had a Greek name. 



108 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

" Follow me," says Jesus, and Philip henceforth be- 
comes, in company with his young companions and 
fellow-citizens, a disciple of Jesus. 

The example of the first disciple is soon followed. 
Philip, filled with wonder and joy, goes in search of 
his friend Nathanael, who is the same as the Apostle 
Bartholomew, or son of Tholmai. Nathanael was of 
Cana in Galilee, and, from what we shall see, was one 
of those saintly Jews who were looking for a spiritual 
king to redeem Israel, but knew not Jesus of Nazareth. 
"We have found him of whom Moses in the law and 
the prophets 'did write." "Whom think you? A 
young Herodian Prince ? — A young Asmonaeau priest ? 
— Some burning light from the schools of Shammai or 
Hillel ? — Some passionate young emir from the follow- 
ers of Judas of Gamala ? — No ; but Jesus of Nazareth, 
the son of Joseph." 

Nathanael evidently felt the expressed contrast "be- 
tween the grandeur of his office and the meanness of 
his birth : ' ' The Christ come out of Nazareth ? Can 
anything good come out of that town of ill repute ? 
Philip's answer is, " Come and see." 

11 And," says a distinguished writer, " herein is the great test 
of Christianity to-day for all who question it — 'come and see.' 
Approach and behold what Christ has done for the world and 
you will be compelled to believe and adore. ' Come and see ' a 
dying world revivified, a decrepit world regenerated, an aged 
world rejuvenescent ; come and see the darkness illuminated, 
the despair dispelled ; come and see tenderness brought into the 
cell of the imprisoned felon and liberty to the fettered slave ; 
come and see the poor and the ignorant and the many eman- 
cipated forever from the intolerable thraldom of the rich, the 
learned and the few ; come and see hospitals and orphanages 
rising in their permanent mercy, beside the crumbling ruins of 



AN ISRAELITE INDEED. 



IO9 



colossal amphitheatres, which once reeked with human blood ; 
come and see the obscene symbols of universal degradation ob- 
literated indignantly from the purified abodes ; come and see the 
dens of lust and tyranny transformed into sweet and happy 
homes, defiant atheists into believing Christians, rebels into 
children and pagans into saints. Ay, come and see the majestic 
acts of one great drama continued through nineteen Christian 
centuries, . . . and exclaim in calm and happy confidence, with 
the pure and candid Nathanael, ' Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, 
thou art the king of Israel.' " 

Nathanael accepted the invitation to come and see, 
but before he reached the Saviour, Jesus accosted him. 
Here comes an Israelite, indeed, — a true spiritual child 
of Abraham, in whom is no deception ; he is what he 
appears to be, worshiping his God in secret as well as 
in public. Nathanael is surprised, and asks how Jesus 
knew him. The Lord replies that he had seen him 
when under the fig tree alone. It was the custom of 
pious Jews to retire in the shade of some tree for private 
daily prayer, and Jesus, though bodily absent, was pres- 
ent to see and hear and bless this spiritual worshiper. 
What could be more convincing? Could any eye not 
divine have seen him while under the fig tree before 
Philip called him ? No, and from that moment Jesus 
is the Lord and king of this believing Israelite. 



IIO THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE WATER TURNED TO WINE. 

John ii. i-ii. — Cana in Galilee, a.d. 27. 

THE next time we meet with Jesus, he is with his 
new-made disciples at a marriage feast in Cana 
of Galilee, where he performs his first miracle by 
turning water into wine. By what route he went to 
Cana we do not know and can hardly conjecture. He 
was on the way there when he called Philip and met 
Nathanael . . . which was on the third day, writes 
John, who was himself there. . . . Why he went to 
Cana instead of returning to Nazareth, " his own city," 
we cannot tell, unless it was to attend the wedding and 
because his mother, and perhaps their family, were there 
too, probably residing there. Some have supposed he 
went by the ordinary route, through Shiloh and Shechem 
and across the plain of Jezreel to Nazareth, and not find- 
ing his mother there, went on to Cana, which was only 
an hour and a half's walk farther on. But we have not 
a word about his going back to Nazareth after his bap- 
tism until the time when he appeared in the synagogue 
and was rejected. 

Cana of Galilee is so called to distinguish it from 
another Cana in the tribe of Ephraim. This was the 
native place of Nathanael. It was a small town, not 
far from Capernaum, and between four and five miles 
northeast of Nazareth. It is known now as Kefer 
Kenna, and the natives still claim to show the place 
where the water was made wine, on which spot the ruins 



THE WATER TURNED TO WINE. 



Ill 



of a church are seen. They also point out the large 
stone water-pots that were used by Christ, as well as the 
fountain from which the water was brought. We be- 
lieve that tradition is just as reliable in Palestine as any 
where else. ' ' L,arge stone water-pots are said to be 

found there whose use 
seems to be unknown 
to the present inhabi- 
tants." It is also 
claimed that at the 
time of the crusades, 
the six stone jars were 
brought to France, 
where one of them is 
said still to exist. 
Jesus and his disciples 
were " called " to the 
celebration of a mar- 
riage. The disciples of Jesus who were present with 
him were those he had just chosen in Judea — Andrew, 
Peter, Philip and Nathanael, — who were not yet made 
apostles. Some have supposed that the people married 
were relatives of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that 
she had charge of things. This supposition seems to be 
confirmed by her interest in the feast and her effort to 
supply the exhausted stock of wine. Thus did Jesus, 
by his presence, sanction marriage. 

A marriage feast among the Jews lasted about a week. 
Our Saviour's parable of the ten virgins describes the 
bringing home of the bride. This account relates tc the 
festivities within after the door was shut. As the feast 
progressed the wine gave out, and Mary told Jesus about 
it. Why she did so we cannot tell, unless she expected 




CAXA OF GALIIvEE. 



112 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

him to supply it in some miraculous way. The answer 
' ' Woman, what have I to do with thee ? Mine hour is 
not yet come," seems harsh to us, but it was perfectly 
respectful. When on the cross Jesus, in the tenderest 
manner, commended his mother to the care of John, and 
used the same word, "Woman, behold thy son." His 
reply may have been a mild reproof of his mother's 
interference with his prerogative. He had before re- 
fused to work a miracle in the desert, to supply himself 
with bread. But Jesus did just what his mother wanted 
and expected him to do. 

And she evidently did not regard his reply as a re- 
buke, or a denial, for she turned to the servants and 
said, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." It was 
customary for the Jews to wash very often, and the 
hands must always be washed before and after each 
meal. The vessels were also cleansed by dipping them 
in water. The feet, too, partly exposed by the sandals 
worn, became soiled, and required frequent ablutions. 
All this made large quantities of water necessary. 
Hence we are told that in the house there were six large 
stone jars for holding water, and out of these the water 
was drawn as it was needed for drinking, cooking and 
washing. Generally a green branch was put in the 
open mouth of the jar to keep the water fresh. Each 
jar held about seven gallons, and hence the mira- 
cle was more noted. It is probable that much water 
had been used during the course of the feast, and there 
was but little left in the vessels. But they were filled to 
the brim by the servants at the command of Jesus. 
Then he told the servants to dip out and carry to the 
one who presided over the feast. They did so, and be- 
hold ! the water in the jars was wine. 



THE WATER TURNED TO WINE. 



113 



This was a genuine miracle, and the water was made 
into real wine. The governor or ruler of the feast pro- 
nounced it the best wine. He knew nothing of the 
miracle at the time, but thought the bridegroom had 




FILI, THE WATER POTS. 



provided the wine. It is unusual, he says, to keep the 
best till the last, for when people have had enough and 
the keenness of their taste is impaired, then inferior 
wine is used. There is no evidence here that any of the 



ii4 THE ST0R Y 0F J ESUS - 

guests at this feast were intoxicated. The Revised Ver- 
sion reads, "When men have drunk freely," not are 
drunk. It is plain that order and sobriety prevailed, 
and that even the governor and leader knew at once 
when he had tasted the wine that it was of the finest 
quality. Pliny, Plutarch and Horace describe the best 
wine as that which was harmless and innocent. 

The author has heard a gentleman who lived in Pales- 
tine for several years publicly declare that he had at- 
tended many weddings in that country, and that he 
never saw a single case of intoxication at any one of 
them ; moreover, that the wine commonly used was not 
intoxicating, but was unfermented and free from alcohol. 
He also stated that intoxication and intoxicating liq- 
uors were never allowed at feasts where ladies were 
present, as on wedding occasions, and that it was an in- 
sult even to insinuate that such a thing had been toler- 
ated. Another gentleman says that he has been at 
Jewish feasts, here in the United States, where wines 
were freely used, and had been assured by the host that 
none of the various kinds were fermented or intoxicat- 
ing. This testimony accords with that of many of our 
ablest scholars, who assert that there was among the 
Jews in Bible times an unfermented and unintoxicating 
wine. Sometimes the simple juice obtained by pressing 
the grapes in a cup was used. 

With these facts before us we cannot but feel assured 
that our Saviour is fully vindicated from the accusation 
of his Jewish enemies, who said, " Behold a wine bibber 
and a gluttonous man," as well as from all modern in- 
sinuations that he ever encouraged the free use of intox- 
icating wines. 



THE WATER TURNED TO WINE. 



"5 



Dr. Lyman Abbott says : 

" Neither Christ's precepts nor his example justifies the ordi- 
nary drinking usages of American society of to-day, with its 
bars, its wine-shops, its beer-gardens, its fiery wines and strong 
liquors, and all its attendant evils. The ordinary wine of to-day 
is a very different article from that in Christ's day. The word is 
the same, the thing is different. And the usages are equally 
different. ' ' 




WASHING HANDS 



THE EAST. 




(n6) 



STREET IN JERUSALEM. 



BOOK FOURTH 



FROM THE FIRST PASSOVER IN CHRIST'S 

PUBLIC MINISTRY TO THE SECOND 

PASSOVER. 

A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, FROM APRIL A.D. 2J TO APRIL A.D. 2». 

("7) 



! 



iiiiiyiiiii 








PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 



119 



A 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 
John ii. 12-25— Capernaum, Jerusalem, a. d. 27. 

FTER the ceremonies of the marriage feast were 
over at Cana, Jesus, his mother, his brethren and 
his disciples went to Capernaum and dwelt 
there for a short time. We next hear of him at Jerusa- 
lem, attending the first Passover after he had begun his 
public life. On this occasion, and thus early in his 
ministry, some of the most important acts of his life 
were performed. Nothing is said of the journey there, 
but we find him at Jerusalem, in the temple. Doubt- 
less he met with, and joined some one of the great 
caravans that were moving towards the holy city at that 
time. John alone relates the fact of Christ's presence at 
this Passover ; the other gospels do not mention it. Dur- 
ing this visit Jesus drove the traders from the temple, an 
act which he repeated near the close of his life, a few days 
before his crucifixion. Let us go back to the scene — 
multitudes of people are flocking to Jerusalem to partake 
of the Passover, caravans from all directions slowly wend 
their way towards the city, and crowds of people come 
from every nation and clime, for the scattered Jews are 
coming home to attend the great feast. Vast numbers of 
oxen, sheep and doves are ready for sale to those who 
have come to make their offerings in the temple at this 
great festival, and the money-changers are here to re- 
ceive from the travelers their coin brought from distant 
lands, which was not lawful to pay into the Lord's 



120 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

treasury, and to furnish in exchange the Jewish coin, for 
which a charge was paid. 

If these articles necessary to the Jewish worshipers 
had been collected in the streets, little objection would 
probably have been made, but here they were within 
the temple gates and area, in the court of the Gentiles, 
occupying the broad spaces and corridors. The lowing 
of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep, the cooing of 
the doves mingled with loud contentions between pil- 
grims and drovers in buying and selling, penetrated to 
the presence of the worshipers in the inner courts and 
disturbed the priests and Levites in the sacred duties of 
their profession. 

A distinguished author says : 

' ' We have already seen that vast crowds nocked to the holy 
city at the great annual feast. Then, as now, that immense mul- 
titude, composed of pilgrims from every land, and proselytes of 
every nation, brought with them many needs. The traveler who 
now visits Jerusalem at Easter time will make his way to the 
gates of the Church of the Sepulchre through a crowd of venders 
of relics, souvenirs, and all kinds of objects, who, squatting 
upon the ground, fill all the vacant space before the church and 
overflow into the adjoining street. Far more numerous and far 
more noisome must have been the buyers and sellers who choked 
the avenues leading to the Temple and the passover to which the 
Jews now went among the other pilgrims, for what they had 
to sell were not only trinkets and knick-knacks, such as are now 
sold to Eastern pilgrims, but oxen, sheep and doves. On both 
sides of the eastern gate — the gate of Shusan — as far as Solo- 
mon's porch, there had been established the shops of merchants 
and the banks of money- changers. The latter were almost a ne- 
cessity ; for twenty days before the passover the priests began to 
collect the old sacred tribute of half a shekel, paid yearly by 
every Israelite, whether rich or poor, as atonement money for his 
soul, and applied to the expenses of the Tabernacle services. 
Now it would not be lawful to pay this in all kinds of coinage 



PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 



121 



brought from different kinds of governments, sometimes repre- 
sented by wretched counters of brass and copper, and always de- 
filed with heathen symbols and heathen inscriptions. It was 
lawful to send this money to the priests from a distance ; but 
every Jew who presented himself in the Temple preferred to pay 




MONEY-CHANGERS. 



it in person. He was therefore obliged to procure the little silver 
coin in return for his own currency, and the money-changers 
charged him five per cent. There, in the actual court of the 
Gentiles, steaming with the heat of the burning April day, and 
filling the Temple with stench and filth, were penned whole 
flocks of sheep and oxen, while the drovers and pilgrims stood 
6 



122 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

bartering and bargaining around them. There were the men 
with their great wicker cages filled with doves, and under the 
shadow of the arcades, formed by quadruple rows of Corinthian 
columns, sat the money-changers, with their tables covered with 
piles of various small coins, while, as they reckoned and wran- 
gled in the most dishonest of trades, their greedy eyes twinkled 
with the lust of gain. And this was the entrance court to the 
Temple of the Most High." 

Filled with holy indignation Jesus made a scourge of 
small cords, or a whip of twisted rushes or reeds as 
a symbol of authority, and drove all traders, sheep, 
and oxen out of the temple ; and overthrowing 
the tables of the money-changers, sent them scrambling 
after their scattered coins over the marble floors of the 
temple. To those that sold doves he said, ' ' Take 
these things hence." His disciples remembered the 
scripture, k( The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 
The reason Jesus gives for this proceeding is, ' ' Make 
not my Father's house a house of merchandise. " God's 
house was to be a house of prayer, not a place for bar- 
gain and sale, but for pure and spiritual worship. It 
was fitting for Jesus thus to begin his public ministry by 
this purging of the temple. 

Why, before his claims to Messiahship were recog- 
nized, these traders fled before the unknown Galilean we 
know not, unless, because of the cowardice of sin, they 
shrank before the courageous assertion of truth, and the 
awful majesty of the presence of the Lord. In attempt- 
ing to reform this abuse, which had been permitted and 
perhaps even sanctioned by king, Sanhedrin and high 
priest, the opposition of the Jews was to be expected. 
They demanded to know by what authority he did these 
things. He had assumed the work and character of a 
Prophet of God, and now they want him to give them 



PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 123 

some sign or miracle to prove his claim. Afterwards 
while in the temple and during this same feast Jesus did 
perform miracles which Nicodemus beheld, but now he 
simply says to the Jews, ' ' Destroy this temple and in 
three days I will raise it up." They thought that he 
referred to the magnificent structure of costly stone and 
precious woods and golden finish, and answered that the 
temple, not yet completed, had been forty-six years in 
building, and how could he rebuild it in three days? 

This remarkable utterance of our Saviour was made 
one of the accusations brought against him at his trial. 
But Jesus spoke of the temple of his body, and his 
words were a prophecy of his death and resurrection on 
the third day, which was to prove to his disciples and 
the world that he was what he claimed to be, the Mes- 
siah, the Son of God. Only after his resurrection did 
his own disciples understand it. But the Jews were not 
ready to receive him. They had seen his baptism by 
John, had heard the Baptist's testimony to the Christ, 
and the fame of his miracle at Cana had reached them ; 
but in their eyes the claims of the Xazarene seemed pre- 
sumptuous. Jesus remained during the feast, which 
lasted eight days, and performed a number of miracles, 
which caused many of the Jews to believe on him ; but 
knowing the frailty of man's heart he trusted them not. 



124 THE sT0RY OF JESUS. 



i 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE EVENING VISITOR. 

John iii. 1-21. — At Jerusalem, a.d. 27. 

T is the season of the Passover, the first in the pub- 
lic life of our Lord. It is night and the temple 
is deserted. The city is silent. The inhabitants 
and the crowd of visitors are asleep. The disciples have 
sought repose. Jesus is alone and awake in his chamber 
in the house of his friend. A stranger enters. His 
dress and deportment indicate wealth, rank and charac- 
ter. With respectful dignity he addresses Jesus in 
terms that indicate at once the strong and favorable 
impression the Saviour has made upon some of the 
ruling classes. The caller is Nicodemus, a ruler of the 
Jews, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin or great 
council of the nation. At this time there were many 
who believed on Jesus, seeing the miracles that he did 
and the authority he exercised in purifying the temple. 
But Jesus did not receive them into his confidence as 
he did the disciples he had made in Galilee ; for he 
could read their hearts and knew them to be insincere. 
They doubtless had carnal ideas of Christ and his work 
that were beyond correction. There were also some of 
the Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin, who truly 
believed as Nicodemus, who was the most conspicuous 
among them, intimates. But none had openly attached 
themselves to him. It was probably not cowardice that 
led Nicodemus to come at night to Jesus, but a desire 
for careful investigation, such as a man of his character 



THE EVENING VISITOR. 



125 



and position would naturally desire to make before giv- 
ing his open adherence to a cause that would bring upon 
him social, political and religious proscription. 

There was one thing that Nicodemus knew, and 
which he was not backward to acknowledge. This was 




JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 

that Jesus was a teacher come from God, and that his 
mission and message were divine. He and others — 
"We," he said — knew this because of the "miracles " 
he performed. And this word u miracles" in the orig- 



inal is 



which means not only miracles, but 



126 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

also every evidence or proof that Jesus gave, that God 
was with him, and that God sent him. As to Nicode- 
mus the miracles appealed to the evidence of his senses, 
the truth convinced his mind, and the godlike man won 
his heart. If the kingdom that Jesus came to found 
had been of this world and political, then the reception 
given to Nicodemus would have been far different. For 
the gaining of disciples from among the nations, relig- 
ious rulers would be very helpful in a worldly point of 
view, and especially to a cause that sprang from despised 
Nazareth, and had as yet, for its advocates, only obscure 
Galileans. The fidelity of our Lord to the truth is 
marked. u Ye must be "Born again," he said, born from 
above, of water and of the Spirit. Otherwise neither 
you nor any other Jew, nor any Gentile can enter the 
kingdom of heaven. At the very beginning of his min- 
istry, and to this dignified counsellor, the great Master 
struck the highest note of his teaching, and in one grand 
and true discourse declares his own divine and human 
nature; man's sinful and lost condition and his need of a 
radical change of heart; and that he had come as teacher 
and Saviour, who would save men by being lifted up as 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Jesus, at 
this early day, thus foretells his death by the cross for 
the salvation of a perishing world. " Ye must be born 
again," so contrary to all Jewish teachings, must have 
sounded strangely to Nicodemus. 

The question asked by this, the third teacher in rank 
in Israel, a highly learned man, is repeated by many 
in our day : How can these things be ? And the answer 
given to him is that which every learned skeptic of the 
present time should receive : " You may not know how, 
for the how of simple things in nature you cannot ex- 



THE EVENING VISITOR. 



127 



plain, but the fact remains the same." How far Nico- 
demus went in receiving these teachings of Jesus we 
may learn from various considerations. He conceded 
all when he acknowledged Jesus as a teacher sent ot 
God, for upon this truth rests the entire system of Chris- 
tian faith and practice to-day. Admit that the word 
is divine and all else included in Christianity must fol- 
low. If Nicodemus believed this sincerely he had truly 
what Lange here calls the germ of an evangelical faith. 
We are told by tradition that Nicodemus openly became 
a Christian and suffered the loss of all things for the 
gospel's sake, but we are not left to tradition. Nicode- 
mus defended Jesus in the Sanhedrin, and afterward 
came with Joseph of Arimathea, one of his own class 
and took down from the cross the body of the Lord and 
embalmed and buried it, at a time when the most 
trusted apostles had all fled in terror. He may have 
doubted at first, as others did, but he was led finally to 
exclaim, with doubting Thomas, "My Lord and my 
God. ' ' His actions indicate devoted love and a settled 
faith. 




IN THE PLAIN OF JERICHO. 



128 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED. 

Matt. iv. 12 ; Mark i. 14; Luke iii. 19, 20; iv. 14; John iii. 22-36; iv. 1-4.— 
.Judea, Perea, a.d. 27. 

/^"^VUR Lord's conversation with Nicodemus is the 
^-^ only incident mentioned during this visit to the 
holy city. He did not tarry long, but began his 
public work at once in the surrounding country, extend- 
ing from the Dead Sea and the Jordan to Philistia on the 
Mediterranean Sea on the west, and from the boundary 
between Samaria and Judea on the north, far south to 
Beersheba on the edge of the wilderness ; or, as Peter, 
who doubtless accompanied him on this journey, said, 
' ' throughout all Judea. ' ' This tour through Judea has 
been styled his Judean Ministry, or ' ' his first wide circuit 
of preaching and teaching, ' ' in which he was accompa- 
nied by his disciples. How long he ' ' tarried ' ' at work 
in this region we do not know, nor what cities and towns 
he visited, but doubtless he visited Bethlehem, the place 
of his nativity, and the hills where the shepherds watched 
their flocks when the heavenly host appeared to announce 
the birth of the Messiah, and Hebron, where, as is sup- 
posed, John the Baptist was born. He went also, it may 
be, along the route of the flight into Egypt and back to 
the scene of the baptism at the Jordan. Here he taught 
and gained converts, and here he baptized. 

We are told that Jesus himself never baptized, but his 
disciples administered the rite of baptism under his direc- 
tion. So afterwards the apostle Paul said that Jesus 
sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and 



THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED. 129 

hence he, like his Master before him, committed the 
work of baptizing to other hands. Nevertheless Paul 
enjoined the duty of being baptized upon all his con- 
verts, and Jesus himself commanded that this ordinance 
should be administered throughout the world for all 
time, into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy 
Spirit. The ordinance is none the less binding upon us 
because Jesus did not personally baptize, nor can a 
minister now claim exemption from administering it be- 
cause an apostle turned it over to his assistants. The 
disciples of the Baptist when they heard that Jesus was 
making disciples and baptizing more than John himself, 
went to John with the complaint : " Rabbi, he who was 
with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou hast born wit- 
ness, Lo ! he is baptizing and all men are coming to 
him." It is probable that Jesus was now baptizing at 
the ford of the Jordan near Jericho, that John had re- 
moved to iEnon near Salim, farther up the river. Here 
were two great teachers in the land, both baptizing 
multitudes of people, and both rejected by the Jewish 
rabbis. How strong is John's testimony to Jesus under 
these circumstances, and how noble is his answer to his 
fault-finding and jealous disciples ! 

John reminds them of what he has already told them, 
that he is not the Christ, but his messenger. That he 
is not the bridegroom, but only the friend of the bride- 
groom. That he must decrease, but Jesus must increase. 
' ' I am not the Christ. ' ' John was no rival. His mis- 
sion was to exalt his Lord and Master. The people will 
flock to Jesus, for he is the bridegroom, and hath the 
bride. Hence he said : I rejoice to hear and obey his 
voice. Jesus is the Lord from heaven ; I am of the earth. 
God sent him and God has given proof that what he says 

6* 



130 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

is true, for he speaketh the words of God. But some 
men will not receive him. Nevertheless, he is the Son 
of God, and whosoever believeth on him shall have ever- 
lasting life ; but he that believeth not, the wrath of God 
abideth on him. John pointed to Jesus as the rising sun 
and saw no occasion of rivalry between himself and Jesus, 
nor between his baptism and that of Christ's. 

This was the Baptist's final testimony to Jesus ; for al- 
most immediately thereafter John was imprisoned. It is 
said that after Jesus heard that John was in prison he left 
Judea and went into Galilee and began to preach and 
teach, saying : ' ' Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Jesus, during his ministry in Judea, had also 
preached ' ' repentance for the remission of sins. ' ' Ac- 
cording to Geikie, the Judean ministry extended over 
nine months, or from the Passover in April to the winter, 
which comes in that land in December or January. The 
three synoptical gospels, those by Matthew, Mark and 
Luke, dwell mainly upon the public ministry of Jesus in 
Galilee, but John records the narrative of the events of 
Christ's Judean ministry. 

The arrest of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas is 
mentioned as the reason that led to Christ's going from 
Judea to Galilee. Why it should thus influence Jesus we 
do not know unless he wished to avoid too much atten- 
tion at that time. He desired to prevent arrest lest his 
own work might also be stopped. He knew probably 
that there was danger of this, and he always adopted 
necessary precautions for his personal safety until the 
time came to deliver himself -up. Besides, he must first 
instruct his disciples and establish his church. But Jesus 
was not fleeing from the path of duty, frightened by its 
dangers. He had in mind his work ahead. He knew 



THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED. j , x 

that there was work waiting him in Samaria, that he 
would be scornfully rejected in "his own city," and he 
also knew that there were multitudes needing the gos- 

fhe : e a G of Grmr ""^ * «* ^^ ««<* ^ 




AKTIOCH IN SYRIA. 



F 



THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. 133 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. 
John iv. 5-42.— Shechem in Samaria, a.d. 27. 

ROM Judea Jesus went to Galilee, there to begin 
his Galilean ministry. The route Jesus took in- 
to Galilee is made known to us, and his journey 
was attended by some of the most interesting events of 
his life. He did not go through Perea beyond Jordan, 
which was the circuitous route usually taken by the 
Jews to avoid going through Samaria, on account of the 
mutual hatred existing between them and the Samari- 
tans. Jesus must go through Samaria ' ' to remove a 
prejudice, to correct an error, to teach a truth, to save a 
sinner. ' ' On his way north from Jerusalem to Shechem 
he probably passed several well-known towns — Rama, 
where was the tomb of Rachel, Bethel where Jacob 
dreamed, and Shiloh where the tabernacle was set up 
before its removal to Jerusalem. From Shiloh the way 
led across the plain of Mukhna, on either side of which 
the hills extended until two gaps in the mountain ranges 
were reached, one opening to the west and the other to 
the east. 

As Jesus stood on the site of Jacob's well and looked 
westward he would see in the gap or valley Shechem, 
or modern Nablous, while on the left Mount Gerizim, 
one thousand feet above the valley, rose on his view, and 
on the right Mount Ebal, twelve hundred feet in height. 
Through this valley between these two mountains the 
road turns first to the west and then to the north again 



*34 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



towards Galilee. This is historic ground lying midway 
between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan, Syria and 
Arabia — the centre of the land. This is the spot of 
ground bought by Jacob, the patriarch, where he pastured 

his flocks and pitched 



his tent, and where 
tradition says he dug 
the well still known 
as Jacob's well. Here 
the bones of Joseph 
were brought and bur- 
ied when Israel came 
from Egypt to the 
land of promise. Here 
Joshua collected the 
tribes of Israel after the 
™Mt&lW%!ffi^W' conquest of the land, 
Jacob's wei,i,. an d delivered to them 

again the law of Moses while they renewed their allegiance 
to the Lord their God. 

Jesus must have crossed the borders of Judea and Sama- 
ria early in the morning, for at noon he reaches this 
place rendered famous by his interview with the woman 
at the well. It is the spring of the year, and the beauties 
of the surrounding land are thus described by Geikie : 

"The country, as lie approached Samaritan Territory, was 
gradually more inviting than the hills of Southern Judea. 
Even in our day Samaria is more pleasant than Judea. . . . 
Rich, level stretches . . . form splendid pastures, which 
alternate in the valleys, with fertile tracts of cornland, gardens 
and orchards. Grape-vines and many kinds of fruit trees cover 
the warm slopes of the limestone hills, and groves of olives and 
walnuts crown their rounded tops. The meadows of Samaria 
have always been famous. . , . The climate was so good and 




THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. 



J 35 



healthy that the Romans greatly preferred the military stations 
in Samaria to those of Judea." 

" The town of Nablus— is about a mile and a half from the 
mouth of this side valley, in which it stands. Luxuriant gar- 
dens, richly watered, girdle it round outside its old and dilapi- 
dated walls, whose gates hanging off their hinges, are an emblem 
of all things else, at this day in Palestine. The valley at the 
town is so narrow that a strong man might shoot an arrow from 
one hill to the other. The houses of Nablus are stone— a number 
of them of several stories— with small windows, and balconies, 
and low doors, over which texts of the Koran are often painted 
as a sign that the householder had made a pilgrimage to Mecca. 
It is a very small place, stretching from east to west, with narrow 
streets, running north and south from two principal ones. Their 
sides are raised so as to leave a filthy, sunken path in the middle 
for cattle ; but as a set-off to this, many copious fountains and 
clear rivulets flow through those on the west of the town. . . . 
To this ancient town, then in its glory, and very different from 
its present condition, along this path, Jesus was coming, no 
doubt agreeably impressed by the beauties of a spot unequaled 
in Palestine for its landscape." 

Dr. Hanna says this particular place "is the only 
locality that you can connect with the presence of the 
Redeemer. You cannot in all Palestine draw another 
circle of limited diameter within whose circumference 
you can be absolutely certain that Jesus once stood, 
except around Jacob's well." 

This well is at the foot of Mount Gerizim. It is cir- 
cular, about nine feet in diameter. In 1697 it was one 
hundred and five feet deep, with fifteen feet of water. 
Originally it was much deeper. It is not so deep now, 
and is dry, being filled up with rubbish. The walls are 
built up with stone, which, with the digging of the well, 
must have cost enormous labor. There are several springs 
in the valley, supplying water to the inhabitants, but in 
Jesus' day they must have belonged to private persons. 



136 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

Around the mouth of the well are the ruins of a church 
that once stood over the sacred spot. At the time of 
Jesus' visit there was probably a shelter provided for trav- 
elers. Weary with the journey, and faint with hunger 
and thirst, our Saviour sat down on the stones about the 
well, and his disciples, overcoming their prejudices, went 
into the city to buy food for themselves and their Master. 
While thus seated alone, resting, a Samaritan woman 
came, at this unusual hour of noon, to draw water with 
her pitcher and cord. 

The evangelizing labors of the great Master began in 
Samaria, not with a vast congregation, but with a single 
individual, an unknown woman in the very lowest walks 
of social life and of doubtful character. Not a regular 
appointment but a merely casual meeting, brings together 
here a lost soul and an all-sufficient Saviour. The dis- 
course at the well begins with a most natural question 
and yet one adapted to bring out the needs of this un- 
saved one. Jesus asks for a drink of water. The woman 
expresses surprise that he, evidently a Jew as she judges 
from his dress and conversation, should ask even a drink 
of water from one of the hated race. Jesus replied that 
if she knew the gift of God and who it was that asked of 
her a drink, she would ask of him and he would give her 
the living water. In the East when water is scarce the 
water carriers cry through the streets, ' ' Behold the gift of 
God, ' ' and the people come and buy. Living water is 
flowing water, a spring of water, as distinguished from 
cistern water. Taking his words in this literal sense, 
even as Nicodemus had done before her, she misunder- 
stood the Lord's meaning, and wondered where he could 
get this living water since the well was deep and he had 
neither vessel nor cord to draw with. But Jesus was 



THE WOMAN AT THE WELL. 



137 



speaking spiritually concerning the real gift of God to 
man, his grace and salvation, and hence he replied that 
he who drank of the water which he would give, would 
never thirst again but would have within him a well of 
water springing up into everlasting life. Still unable to see 
the spiritual import of his words, she says, ' ' Sir, give me 
this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. ' ' 
The next words of Jesus are adapted to reveal himself to 
the woman as well as to reveal the woman to herself, 
1 ' Go call thy husband and come hither. ' ' And now fol- 
lows a revelation of her sinful life. ' ' I have no hus- 
band. " "I knew, ' ' replied Jesus. She perceives that 
he is a prophet ; but Jesus was more than a prophet, and 
soon declares it. ' ' Our fathers worshiped in this moun- 
tain," she said, pointing probably to Mount Gerizim, 
' ' and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men 
ought to worship." Mount Gerizim indeed was the 
most sacred spot on earth to the Samaritans, who claimed 
that there Paradise was located, there the ark rested, 
there Abraham offered up Isaac, there Joshua built his 
first altar, there Jacob saw the heavenly ladder, there had 
been buried the tabernacle and sacred vessels, there the 
sacred temple of the Samaritans had stood and there they 
believed the long promised Messiah was to appear. 
Jesus must have been familiar with these traditions, and 
it is remarkable that there and to this woman he first 
fully and plainly declares himself to be the Christ. 
1 ' When Christ shall come he will tell us all things. ' ' 
' ' I that speak unto thee am he, ' ' Jesus replied. It is 
worthy of note that our Saviour in this conversation at 
Jacob's well, lays down the true principle of religious 
worship. Neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, but 
everywhere shall the true worshipers worship the true 



138 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

God, who being a Spirit can be pleased only with a 
worship that is spiritual. ' ' Ye worship ye know not 
what r we know what we worship, for salvation is of the 
Jews. " It is noteworthy that the holy scriptures come 
to us through the Jews. 

During this discourse the disciples returned from the 
city with food. They wondered that he, a man and a Jewish 
rabbi, should talk to a stranger and a Samaritan woman, 
and such a woman ; but they said not a word. And when 
they pressed him to eat, he replied that he had food to eat 
that they knew not of. They misunderstood him, and 
thought some one had given him something to eat ; but 
Jesus was speaking of his work of soul-saving, which was 
more to him than meat and drink. ' ' My meat is to do 
the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. ' ' 
Then he points to the fields, all through the fertile valley, 
now deserted by the farmer for his noon-day rest, where is 
seen the fresh earth and broken sod, the plowed ground 
and the scattered grain. ' ' Say not, there are yet four 
months and then cometh harvest. ' ' True, in the natural 
world the farmer must wait ; but turn your eyes away 
from these fields, and look toward yonder city and see 
those Samaritans flocking out of its gates and hastening 
this way. I say unto you the fields are already white for 
the spiritual harvest. The word sown has brought forth 
immediately and abundantly. Sower and reaper may 
rejoice together, and the reaper shall have wages, for he 
gathers fruit unto eternal life. You have reaped the 
reward of another's sowing, according to the saying, 
( ' One soweth and another reapeth. ' ' 

There is sometimes under the gospel a sowing time and 
then a waiting time before the harvest, but often imme- 
diate fruit springs up where the word is preached. Many 



140 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



of the Samaritans believed because of what the woman 
had said, and their faith was confirmed by what they saw 
and heard for themselves. They besought Jesus to stay 
with them, and he remained there two days, gathering a 
great spiritual harvest from among these half-heathen 
people, before he went on his way. It seemed strange to 
the Jews that Jesus should show, "as he did on several 
occasions, a regard for the hated Samaritans. They did 
not comprehend the truth that Jesus came into the world 
to seek and to save the lost of every nation, and that he is 
the Saviour of the world. 




AN ANCIENT WEU, 



REJECTED A T NAZARE TH. 1 4 1 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

REJECTED AT NAZARETH. 

Matt. iv. 13, 17; Mark i. 14, 15; I,uke iv. 14-30; John iv. 43-54— Cana and 
Nazareth in Galilee, a.d. 27. 

JESUS tarried but two days among the open-hearted 
Samaritans and then continued his journey into 
Galilee. "Jesus himself testified that a prophet 
hath no honor in his own country ; ' ' and yet John relates 
how kindly the Galileans received him, having seen ' ' all 
things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast : for they also 
went unto the feast. ' ' But Jesus evidently spoke pro- 
phetically of his rejection by the people of his own city — 
Nazareth. Outside of Nazareth the people received him 
gladly. But he could not be deceived, and his coming 
rejection was not unknown to him. Jesus did not go 
direct to Nazareth, but went from place to place, and 
taught in their synagogues, "being glorified of all." 
He had begun to preach the gospel of the kingdom of 
God, calling men to ' ' repent and believe the gospel, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand ; " " and there went 
out a fame of him through all the region round about. ' ' 

In the course of his journeys throughout Galilee he 
came to Cana where he had wrought his first miracle of 
turning water into wine. There he was met by " a cer- 
tain nobleman ' ' from Capernaum whose son was lying 
sick at home. When he learned that Jesus, of whom he 
had heard, had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to 
meet him and besought him to come to Capernaum and 
heal his son. Jesus said, ' ' Except you see signs and 



142 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

wonders you will not believe." The nobleman's answer 
shows at once his faith and urgency, ' ' Sir, come down 
ere my child die. ' ' Jesus replied at once, ' ' Go thy way, 
thy son liveth." And the man believed the word of 
Jesus, and went his way towards home. The next day 
while yet on the road to Capernaum, the nobleman was 
met by his servants who told him that his son was alive 
and well. He inquired of them when his child began to 
mend, and found it was the day before at the seventh 
hour that the fever left him, which he knew was the same 
time when Jesus said to him, ' ' Thy son liveth. ' ' When 
he reached his home and told his family all about what 
Jesus had done, he and they all believed in Jesus. ' ' This 
is the second miracle, ' ' says John, ' ' that Jesus did when 
he came out of Judea into Galilee." 

From Cana Jesus appears to have gone to Nazareth. 
Since he left there he had begun his public ministry, had 
been baptized by John, had endured temptation, had 
driven the traders out of the temple, and had discoursed 
with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. He had left 
Nazareth unknown to fame, but now returns, famous as 
a preacher and as a worker of miracles. At Nazareth 
there was one synagogue or Jewish house of worship, like 
all other synagogues in general, and yet of plain material 
and less elaborate in finish than those in more wealthy 
communities. 

From early childhood Jesus had been accustomed to 
attend the worship of the synagogue. It may be that he 
never had been deemed competent to take a leading part 
in the synagogue at home. But now returning with rising 
fame as a teacher and preacher, public curiosity is awak- 
ened, and when, ' ' as his custom was, ' ' he went into the 
place of worship, the sacred volume was handed him to 



REJECTED A T NAZARETH. 143 

read from the prophets. He ascended the raised platform 
and opened the manuscript, and while all the people stood 
with him, he read from the 61st of Isaiah the well-known 
words, ' ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he 
hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach de- 
liverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the 
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the 
acceptable year of the Lord. ' ' When he had finished read- 
ing, he handed the scroll back to the minister and sat 
down, as was usual, to teach, and began by saying : 
' ' This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ' ' 

As he proceeded they all wondered at his gracious 
words, to which they all at first assented. But unbelief 
soon takes possession of them. What is this he claims ? 
Is he indeed the Christ, as he says ? "Is not this Joseph's 
son ?' ' Jesus replies to their thoughts, ' ' Ye will surely 
say unto me this proverb, ' Physician heal thyself ; what- 
soever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in 
this country.' Verily, I say unto you, no prophet is 
accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth ; 
many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when 
the heavens were shut up three years and nine months, 
when great famine was throughout the land ; but unto 
none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city 
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many 
lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet ; 
and none of them were cleansed, saving Naaman, the 
Syrian. ' ' 

Thus our Saviour set before them the proof of his 
Messiahship. To the base and vulgar allusion to his 
humble origin he paid no attention, but to the demand 
for proof he replied that he offered the same proof that 



REJECTED A T NAZARETH. 145 

Elijah and Elisha gave, and that they themselves exhibited 
the same sinful unbelief that kept back from Israel in the 
. time of those prophets the blessing of God, and sent his 
servants to the despised heathen with the divine favors 
which they had rejected. For the people of Cana and 
Capernaum had believed, and even the Gentile Samari- 
tans had gladly received him. His hearers saw plainly 
before that he applied the text to himself and claimed 
that he himself was the Christ of whom the prophet 
spoke ; and now they clearly see that he applies to them 
these historical references. Are they too to be excluded 
from the divine favor because of their unbelief? 

It was usual in synagogue worship for people to express 
their feelings without restraint, the service being con- 
ducted more as religious meetings are now by mission- 
aries in the east, where questions are asked and opinions 
expressed by the audience. Jesus foresaw doubtless the 
rising storm of indignation which was about to follow the 
contemptuous thoughts and subdued utterances of the an- 
gry crowd. "And all they were filled with wrath." The 
wildest excitement prevailed. In their rage they rose to 
their feet, followed him as he left the synagogue, and 
thrust him indignantly out of the city, pushing him 
before them, and finally, with murderous intent, seized 
him and hurried him to the brow of the hill on which the 
city was built, in order to cast him headlong down the 
precipice and kill him. But he "passed through the 
midst of them and went on his way. ' ' 

Perhaps his silence, perhaps the calm nobleness of his 
bearing, perhaps the dauntless innocence of his gaze, 
overawed them. Apart from anything supernatural, there 
seems to have been in the presence of Jesus a spell of 
mystery and majesty which even his most ruthless and 
7 



146 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

hardened enemies acknowledged, and before which they 
involuntarily bowed. It was to this he owed his escape 
when the maddened Jews in the temple took up stones to 
stone him ; it was this that made the bold and bigoted 
officers of the Sanhedrin unable to arrest him as he 
taught in public during the feast of tabernacles at Jeru- 
salem ; it was this that made the armed band of his 
enemies, at his mere glance, fall before him to the ground 
in the garden of Gethsemane. 

"Suddenly but quietly he asserted his freedom, waved aside 
his captors, and, over awing them by a single glance, passed 
through their midst unharmed. Similar events have occurred in 
history, and continue still to occur. There is something in 
defenceless and yet dauntless dignity that will calm even the 
fury of a mob. They stood — stopped — inquired — were ashamed 
— fled — separated. His time had not come. He left Nazareth, the 
vale among the hills where he had lived, had played and worked, 
his childhood home, his early companions, the synagogue with 
its hallowed associations — all he left, never perhaps to return 
again to speak there the words of truth and grace." 



SITE OF CAPERNAUM. 



THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 



147 



T 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 
Matt. iv. 13-16— Luke iv. 31.— Capernaum in Galilee, a.d. 28. 

URNING his back upon the city of his childhood, 
Jesus came and dwelt in Capernaum, making it 
his future home. His mother and his brethren 
probably went with him or soon followed him. They 
could hardly have remained after the insult the Nazarenes 
had offered Jesus, and must have suffered expulsion at 
their hands or fled from their presence. Jesus and his 
mother had been at Capernaum before, for a short time. 
But henceforth our Saviour's family was to consist of his 
followers and more particularly his apostles, with whom, 
rather than with his relatives, he seems to have made his 
home. Here he appears to have lived with Andrew and 
Peter in their humble home on the shore of the lake. 

Again the movements of our Lord seem to be in ac- 
cordance with ancient prophecy. The town is described 
as u a city of Galilee, which is upon the sea-coast, in the 
borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim ; " and it is said that 
his going there fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah, ' ' The 
land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim by way of 
the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles : the peo- 
ple which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them 
which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is 
sprung up." Zabulon and Nephthalim were names of 
two of the sons of Jacob and of two of the tribes of Israel 
which were located in the division of Canaan, bordering 
on the sea of Galilee and the river Jordan. They adjoined 



148 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

each other and hence their ' ' borders ' ' meant the bounda- 
ries between the two tribes. ' ' Beyond Jordan ' ' meant 
west of that river. Upper Galilee was called Galilee of 
the Gentiles because it was mostly inhabited by heathen 
people. Matthew gives the sense of the prophecy but not 
the exact words. The people of that region were in spir- 
itual darkness, ignorant as to God and his truth and de- 
graded in sin and wickedness. Christ brought to them 
both light and life. 

Capernaum was on the border between the districts 
of Philip and Antipas, and on the northwest coast 
of the sea of Galilee. It is not mentioned in the 
Old Testament, and only once by Josephus, who was 
taken there at the time when he fell from his horse at the 
head of his soldiers. It was once a city of importance 
and the metropolis of Galilee. The supposed site is now oc- 
cupied by ruins. The dwellings were mostly of black lava, 
but the synagogue, which was a splendid affair, was of 
white marble. The ruins of this Jewish house of worship 
still remain, consisting of great blocks of beautifully 
carved white marble and fine Corinthian columns. This 
synagogue, of which Jairus was the chief ruler, was prob- 
ably built by the Roman centurion, whose son Jesus 
cured, who thus showed his respect for the Jewish religion 
and his reverence for Jehovah by this liberal deed. For 
half a mile up the slope of the hill back of the synagogue 
are the ruins of the town with its streets plainly marked 
— the main one running north towards Chorazin. The 
city was situated on a cape projecting into the sea at the 
northern terminus of the plain of Gennesaret, command- 
ing a view of the whole line of coast in every direction. 
At the extreme southern end of the plain was Magdala. 
Still farther south was Tiberias, where Herod Antipas re- 
sided in his royal palace. 



THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 



149 



" Tiberias was quite a modern town when our Lord frequented 
this region, having been built and named by Herod about the 
time of his advent. Seventy years afterwards Josephus found it 
an important city, and no other city in Galilee is so often men- 
tioned by him ; almost every other city was destroyed by Vespa- 
sian and Titus, but this was spared, and rewarded for its adher- 
ence to the Romans by being made the capital of the province. 
John, writing many years after these events, would naturally 
mention both the city and the lake, and call the latter by its 
then most familiar name, Tiberias. But the other apostles wrote 





TIBERIAS. 

before these events had taken place, and therefore do not speak 
of Tiberias at all." 

1 ' It ultimately became the favorite resort of refuge of the scat- 
tered Jews not long after the destruction of Jerusalem. For cen- 
turies the Sanhedrin held its assemblies for the higher education 
of Jewish youths ; and learned rabbis pursued their studies in it 
comparatively free from molestation. The Rabbi Jonathan wrote 
here the Jerusalem Talmud. It is to this day one of the holy 
cities of the Jews, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed, in 
which prayers are offered up for the world twice every day, with- 



I50 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

out which, it is believed, it would return to its primeval chaos. 
Jews gather to it especially from Spain and Barbary, from Poland 
and Russia, in order to be buried within its hallowed precincts ; 
for, next to the valley of Jehoshaphat and the sides of Olivet, 
it is the highest privilege for a Jew to have a grave here. No 
wonder, when it is one of their most cherished expectations, that 
the Messiah, when he comes, shall emerge from the waters of 
the Sea of Galilee, and first reveal himself in Tiberias ; after 
which he shall establish his world-empire up in the mountain 
city of Safed.'' 

Jesus now comes to Capernaum to remain, and here the 
most of the time of his public ministry is to be spent. 
Here many of his mighty works were done, and there- 
fore it is called l ' his own city. ' ' Jesus selected Caper- 
naum as his dwelling-place no doubt for good reasons. 
His new disciples dwelt there. He was not to be hid. 
He did not seek obscurity, nor quiet. True, he had left 
Judea because of danger, and he had been driven out of 
Nazareth, but Jesus evidently chooses Capernaum because 
it affords him the great opportunity he craves of meeting 
many people, whom he wants to teach and save. Here 
he is in the midst of a dense population, crowded into 
towns all along the shores of the sea and back from the 
coast. The country teemed with farms, orchards and 
vineyards. Through Capernaum ran the great routes of 
trade between Syria and the cities on the Mediterranean 
Sea, and the routes of travel between Damascus and Tyre, 
Jerusalem and Egypt. Here he could meet the people, 
who, going leisurely to and fro, would bear to the remotest 
parts of the earth the gospel seed. His works and words 
seem to have made very little impression on the busy 
people of the place, engaged in worldly cares ; but only 
eternity will unfold the good he did to the passing multi- 
tudes who saw and heard him. Some of the inhabitants 



THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 151 

were impressed, and doubtless not a few others were 
found among the followers of the Lord. 

11 Capernaum ... is sunk a thousand feet below the elevated 
plain which surrounds it. From the western hills adjacent the 
traveler sees far below him a blue sheet of water, some thirteen 
miles long and in the broadest part six or seven miles wide, its 
deep depression in a volcanic basin giving it something of that 
strange, unnatural character which belongs in a still greater de- 
gree to the Dead Sea. ... In the recess formed by these encir- 
cling hills lies the plain of Gennesaret. It is described by all who 
have seen it as a natural paradise. ... It is even now famous for 
its fruitfulness and beauty. In the time of Christ it was thickly 
studded with flourishing villages, embowered in palm -groves, 
vineyards and olive-orchards. . . . Not, however, for its beauty 
only, but for its centrality and its populous activity, it was ad- 
mirably adapted for that ministry which fulfilled the old prophecy 
of Isaiah, that the ' land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali be- 
yond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, should see a great light.' 
Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from 
Egypt to Damascus ; and the heathens who congregated at Beth- 
saida Julius and Caesarea Philippi must have been constantly 
seen in the streets of Capernaum. In the time of Christ it was, for 
population and activity, ' the manufacturing district ' of Pales- 
tine, and the waters of its lake were ploughed by 4,000 vessels of 
every description, from the war- vessel of the Romans to the 
rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida and the gilded pinnaces from 
Herod's palace. Iturea, Samaria, Syria, Phoenicia were accessible 
by crossing the lake, the river or the hills." 




FISH OF THE SEA OF GAl^lXEE. 



MIRACLES A T CAPERNA UM] 153 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MIRACLES AT CAPERNAUM. 

Matt. iv. 18-22; viii. 14-17. Mark, i. 16-20; 21-34. I^uke, iv. 31-41; v. i-n.— 
[Sea of Galilee at Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

FROM Capernaum as a centre of operation, Jesus 
went throughout the land. But he began the 
work at his newly-chosen home by preaching the 
gospel and by performing several miracles. The first of 
these miracles was for the benefit of his disciples, four of 
whom were fishermen who resided there and obtained 
their living by fishing in the lake. Jesus had chosen 
men without learning or rank as his apostles to establish 
his kingdom, in order that his church might not seem 
to stand in the wisdom and power of men, but rather in 
the wisdom and power of God. The fame of the miracles 
wrought at Cana had reached Capernaum. 

Jesus was walking by the sea in the neighborhood of 
the city, and the people crowded around him to hear the 
word of God. There were two fishing boats standing by 
the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and 
were washing their nets. He entered into one of these 
boats, which was Simon Peter's, and asked him to push 
out a little from the land, because the people pressed 
upon him, and seating himself in the boat he preached to 
them. When he left off speaking, he told Peter to go 
out into deep water with his boat to fish. But Peter 
hesitated, saying, "Master, we have toiled all night and 
have taken nothing ; nevertheless, at thy word I will let 
down the net. ' ' So Peter and his brother Andrew cast 

7* 



154 1HE STORY OF JESUS. 

the net into the water and caught in it u a great multi- 
tude of fishes, and their net brake. ' ' They then called 
their partners, James and John, who, with their father 
Zebedee, were in another boat near by, to come to their 
assistance. They came, and both boats were filled with 
the fish until they were about to sink. Peter, astonished 
and overcome, as were all the others with him, at the 
unexpected result, and conscious of his unworthiness of 
such a master as he had found, fell down at Jesus' knees, 
and exclaimed, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 
O L,ord, ' ' by which he meant, ' c I am utterly unworthy 
to be near thee, yet let me stay. ' ' 

Such a display of the divine wisdom and power of 
Jesus took a strong and abiding hold upon his humble 
disciple. The purpose of our Saviour in performing 
this miracle of the draught of fishes is soon explained. 
"Fear not," says he to Simon, "from henceforth thou 
shalt catch men ;' ' and then and there he called them to 
follow him and to become fishers of men. And imme- 
diately these four men forsook all to follow Jesus : their 
boats, the fish lately caught, their livelihood, are given 
up to hired servants and to Zebedee, while they followed 
Jesus to preach the gospel. ' ' This draught of fishes was 
not only a miracle, but it was a prophetic parable in 
action. It foreshadowed the success that would attend 
the labors of the apostolical fishers of men, in drawing 
the net of the gospel through the sea of the world ; in- 
closing the heathen nations within it, so that they 
might be caught — not for death, but for life eternal." 

On the Sabbath day, Jesus and his followers, having 
returned from the sea-shore to the city, now enter the 
synagogue of the Jews. According to his custom, he 
taught the people, and his teaching excited their aston- 



MIRACLES AT CAPERNA UM. 155 

ishment. The truth- he taught was old, but new to 
them, and his word was with power, because he taught 
them as one having ' ' authority, ' ' and not as the scribes. 
They taught simply as expounders of the Scriptures, 
while Jesus spoke in his own name and as one who was 
himself a lawgiver superior even to Moses, and able of 
himself to annul or to make laws. But their wonder was 
to be as great respecting his power over nature and his 
authority over evil spirits. 

There was a poor unfortunate man in the crowded 
assemblv who was under the control of the spirit of 
an unclean demon. This man seemed in his double 
nature to recognize the Son of God, and broke in 
upon the sendee of the hour by crying out with a loud 
voice, ' ' Let us alone ; what have we to do with thee, 
Jesus of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I 
know thee who thou art : the holy one of God. ' ' Jesus 
rebuked him and said : ( ' Hold thy peace, and come out 
of him." The demon that possessed the man threw 
him prostrate among the people, and, crying with a loud 
voice, came out of him without doing him any further 
injury. And when «the people saw the man delivered 
and well at the mere command of Jesus, they were 
amazed. "What new doctrine is this? For with 
authority and power he commandeth even the unclean 
spirits, and they obey him and come out. ' ' We are told 
that his fame immediately spread abroad throughout all 
the "country round about Galilee.'' 

When Jesus had left the synagogue he went" with his 
disciples James and John to the house of Peter and An- 
drew, where another miracle was performed that day. 
Peter was a married man, and "led about a wife," 
and Paul declares his right to the same privilege. 



156 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

It seems that Peter's mother-in-law was sick-a-bed 
"of a great fever." Jesus is told of her condition 
soon after he enters the house, and is asked to help her. 
Going to her bed, he stood over her and rebuked the 




SEA OF GAULEE. 

fever, and taking her by the hand lifted her up. Im- 
mediately the fever left her, and she was well, so that 
she arose and waited upon them and attended to her 
household duties. 



MIRACLES A T CAPERNAUM. 157 

The beautiful scene of that evening, as described by the 
sacred writer, was the fitting close of such a day. When 
the sun was going down Jesus sat outside, at the door of 
Peter's house, and all the people of the city gathered 
around him. All who had friends who were sick, now 
that the Sabbath day had closed with the setting sun, 
brought them to Jesus, and he laid his hands on them 
and healed them of their various diseases. Those pos- 
sessed with demons were also brought to him, and he 
cast out the unclean spirits by his word. Some of 
them cried out, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of God." 
But he suffered them not to speak, because they knew 
him to be the Christ. He needed not the testimony of 
demons to prove his divine claims. Thus did Jesus, 
early in his ministry, fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah con- 
cerning the Messiah : ' ' Himself took our infirmities and 
bare our sicknesses. ' ' 

The next morning the Saviour rose early, l ( a great 
while before day, ' ' and went out of the city into a soli- 
tary place to pray. Peter and the people of the place 
missed him when they had risen and followed him. 
When Peter found Jesus he said to him, ' ' All men 
seek for thee. ' ' And the people, soon after coming up, 
besought him not to depart ; but Jesus replied, ' ' I must 
preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for 
therefore am I sent." And he said to Peter and the 
other disciples, ' ' Let us go into the next towns that I 
may preach there also." And Jesus, with his disciples, 
went about all Galilee preaching in the synagogues, cast- 
ing out demons and healing diseases. ' ' His fame went 
throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick 
people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, 
and those that were possessed of demons, those that 



158 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



were lunatic and those that had palsy ; and he healed 
them. ' ' And ' ' great multitudes of people followed 
him from Galilee, from Decapolis, east of the lake of 
Galilee, from Judea and Jerusalem, and from all the 
country beyond the river Jordan. ' ' 




JERUSALEM EROM THE ROAD TO BETHANY. 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 159 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — A. 

Matt. iv. 23-25 ; v. 1-20 ; Mark i. 35-39 ; I,uke iv. 42-44. 
Galilee, probably near Capernaum 

JESUS had awakened the wonder of the people by his 
miracles, and multitudes had followed him. 

" But," says Geikie, " it was not, however, by popular excite- 
ment and mere outward healing that the kingdom of God was to 
be spread, but by the still and gentle influence of the truth, work- 
ing conviction in individual souls. T*he noisy crowd, the throng- 
ing numbers of diseased and suffering; the curiosity that ran 
after excitement and the yearning for help, which looked only to 
outward healing, troubled and almost alarmed him. He had 
come to found a spiritual society, of men changed in heart to- 
wards God, and filled with faith in himself as its head, and the 
merely external and mostly selfish notions of the multitude, 
could not escape his keen eyes. His divine love and pity sighed 
over the bodily and mental distress around. But, as a rule, the 
sufferers thought only of their outward misery, in melancholy 
ignorance of its secret source in their own sin and guilt before 
God, and had all their felt wants relieved when their bodily trou- 
bles were removed." 

Hence the teachings of our Lord emphasize the spirit- 
ual wants of the people, — the Sermon on the Mount being 
the most remarkable instance of this kind of teaching. 
It is the longest of our Saviour's sermons that have been 
preserved for us ; all the others being fragmentary. 
1 ' Curiosity was not progress and excitement was not con- 
version." The great need was instruction, and hence it 
is said that Jesus, "seeing the multitudes," "went up 
into a mountain ; ' ' and when he had seated himself ac- 
cording to the eastern custom, he taught his disciples, 



1 60 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

not only Christian followers and apostles, but all those 
who followed him to hear his instructions. 

The mountain upon which our Saviour is supposed to 
have delivered his mountain sermon is generally called 
the Mount of Beatitudes, because of the blessings Christ 
there pronounced upon men ; but it is known more prop- 
erly as the Horns of Hattin, two horn-like heights, rising 
about sixty feet above the valley which lies between 
them, and about seven miles west of Capernaum. The 
gorge which opens between this mount and the sea of 
Galilee is famous in history for the singular battles 
waged between Herod and the Zealots. The latter took 
refuge in caves in the sides of the steep cliffs, and the 
soldiers of Herod were lowered from the top of the prec- 
ipices in iron cages to the mouth of the caves, where the 
battles were fought in mid-air. 

From Mount Hattin could be seen the towering snow- 
crested Mount Hermon far away in the north, and below, 
to the east, the blue waters of the sea of Galilee. Be- 
sides the plain on which the mountain stands, there is 
another broad plain between it and the summit, exactly 
suited for the gathering of a multitude. It is supposed 
by some that Jesus went to this broad level, where the 
people followed, and there, seated on a projecting rock, 
with his immediate followers around him, addressed the 
multitudes. The Jewish people were expecting a tem- 
poral king in their Messiah, and now Jesus presents him- 
self to them as a teacher, and proceeds to unfold the 
nature of that kingdom and the principles upon which it 
is to be governed, as well as the character of those who 
shall constitute its subjects. 

The discourse is remarkable for what it ignores as well 
as for what it affirms. Not one word is said about a 






SERMON ON THE MOUNT. i6l 

temporal Messiah or kingdom, nor commendatory of the 
temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the 
rite of circumcision, the rabbis, the fasts or feasts, — in a 
word of anything held sacred by the corrupt rulers of the 
Jewish people of his day. 

"Throughout the whole sermon, no political or theocratic ideas 
find place, but only spiritual. For the first time in the history 
of religion a communion is founded without a priesthood, or 
offerings, or a temple, or ceremonial services : without symbolic 
worship or a visible sanctuary." 

"The new kingdom is to be founded on righteousness alone ; 
and citizenship is offered to all those who sincerely believe in 
Jesus as the Messiah, and honestly repent before God." 

It was foretold of Christ that his mission would be 
to preach to the poor, and in this sermon is the scripture 
fulfilled. He speaks of those passive as well as active 
virtues which are regarded among men as unmanly, and, 
elevates them to a noble rank. The truly happy are not 
those who have worldly possessions and position, but 
those whom God blesses : the poor in spirit, for theirs is 
the kingdom of heaven ; they that mourn, for they shall 
be comforted ; the meek, for they shall inherit the 
earth ; those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, 
for they shall be filled ; the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy ; the pure in heart, for they shall see God ; 
the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children 
of God ; and they that are persecuted for righteousness' 
sake — these, all these are the children of God and sub- 
jects of the kingdom of heaven, and hence have occasion 
to rejoice and be glad, for great is their reward in heaven. 

The true disciples of Christ, he continues, are to the 
earth like the salt that seasons and savors ; and like the 
light that illuminates the world. The salt that has lost 



162 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

its savory qualities is good for nothing but for the foot- 
path. They are as a city set upon a hill, such as Beth- 
saida by the sea, whose light cannot be hid. A candle 
when lighted is not concealed under a peck measure, but 
elevated on a stand where it can be seen and gives light 
in the darkness, and so his disciples are sent to give 
light in the world. The religion of Jesus is to be con- 
fessed for the benefit of others. He, the Master, himself, 
was to be consumed in giving light to the world. They 
are to let the light of their good deeds so shine before 
men that they may see them and so be led to glorify 
their Father who is in heaven. 

" How far this little candle throws its beams, 
So shines a good deed in a naughty world." 

It was important for our Saviour in the beginning of 
his ministry to state what he came to do ; and now he 
defines his relation to the law. He did not come to set 
aside or deny the divine authority of the Old Testament 
scriptures — whether the writings of Moses or the prophets 
— but to teach and enforce them, and to do all that they 
predicted concerning him in his life, sufferings and death. 
Till the heavens and the earth pass away, he said, not 
one jot or tittle of the law shall in any case be abrogated, 
but all must be fulfilled. By "jot and tittle" he referred 
to two minute letters of the Hebrew alphabet no larger 
than the English period and comma, but whose removal 
would change very much the meaning of a word. And 
Jesus meant to teach that not even the smallest part of 
the law should be annulled or destroyed. And his refer- 
ence was doubtless to both the moral and ceremonial 
law. The ceremonial law was fulfilled and ended in 
Christ. The moral law was also fulfilled and established 
in him. Men must ever obey God and keep his com- 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 163 

mandments. In the new birth the law is written in our 
hearts, that we may love and obey it. Therefore, to dis- 
obey one of those laws of God deemed to be least by the 
Jewish teachers, or to teach men to violate them, is a 
sin, and those who do so are not entitled to be leaders or 
teachers in the kingdom of Christ. The scribes and 
Pharisees had divided the law into greater and lesser 
precepts, and Jesus corrects this error. He mentions 
them in the next verse, in which he passes from the law 
to speak of righteousness. The Pharisees and scribes 
were the religious professors and teachers of the day, 
but they taught things contrary to scripture, and in their 
lives they were corrupt. Their righteousness consisted 
in the outward observance of the ceremonial law and 
traditional rites. They offered sacrifices, fasted often, 
prayed much, were very punctilious about ablutions and 
tithes, and the ceremonies of religion, but they neglected 
justice, truth, purity and holiness of heart. Jesus, who 
knew their hearts, charges them with hypocrisy. The 
righteousness that Jesus requires in his kingdom is 
purity, chastity, honesty, temperance, the fear of God, 
and the love of man. His kingdom is pure, eternal, 
reaching the motives and making the life holy, and the 
pure in heart only are fit to enter it. 



164 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — B. 

Matthew v. 21-48. 

JESUS now proceeds to define more clearly the 
righteousness which he requires. The Jewish 
teachers held that the man-slayer only was in dan- 
ger of the judgment — a tribunal before which murder cases 
were tried ; but Jesus taught that whoever is angry with 
his fellow-man without a cause is liable to the judgment 
of God ; that every one who shall contemptuously say to 
his brother, You are a foolish and guilty fellow, shall be 
liable to the Sanhedrin ; and that he who shall say to his 
brother, Thou worthless one, shall be in danger of hell- 
fire. He that hateth his brother is a murderer. With 
the heart man sins. It is not the external act only that 
is sin, but the feelings of the heart also. With feelings 
of anger and hatred existing in the heart, there can be no 
acceptable worship before God. ' * If thy brother hath 
aught against thee," seek reconciliation. If you have, 
as Jews, brought your sacrifice to the very altar in the 
temple, and then remember that you have given your 
brother cause to be offended, leave your gift at the altar 
and go and first be reconciled. No one can hope for ac- 
ceptance with God while unreconciled to a brother, a 
neighbor or a friend. Then, too, going to law is often a 
violation of this sixth commandment, for Jesus says, 
Agree with thine adversary quickly, and thus escape 
God's merited punishment. Jesus draws the same spir- 
itual meaning from the seventh commandment. Adul- 






THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 165 

tery consists in the feelings of the heart, in the wanton 
look as well as in the overt act. Better to destroy the 
sight of the offending eye, or to cut off the right hand — 
that is, to make any mortification of the flesh, than to 
suffer the soul to be cast into hell-fire. • ' Such language, 
from lips so gentle, bespeaks awful danger. ' ' 

But the seventh commandment, which, with the other 
laws of the decalogue, Christ came to enforce and not to 
destroy, was violated, both in its letter and spirit, by 
these Jewish teachers, the scribes and Pharisees especially, 
in relation to divorces. Moses, indeed, on account of the 
hardness of the hearts of the Israelites, had sought to reg- 
ulate and mitigate the evil by permitting a certificate of 
divorce to be given when the separation had taken place ; 
but the Lord now says that the law must be obeyed as 
God gave it ; that marriage was instituted with the inten- 
tion that each man should have one wife, and this union 
was ordained for life. Many of the scribes and Pharisees 
allowed a man to put away his wife — but not the wife her 
husband— for any cause, however trivial. The laws were 
shamefully loose. If a man chanced to see a woman who 
pleased him he could dismiss his wife and marry her. 
For a woman to appear in public without being shrouded 
in a veil, (which the women in the East are still forced 
by jealousy to wear), covering all the face but the eyes, 
was a sufficient cause for separation. The historian Jo- 
sephus claims that a man had a right to send his wife 
away, if he were not pleased with her behavior. Others 
taught that a husband could divorce his wife for cooking 
his food badly, by over-salting or over-roasting it ; or if 
she were stricken down with any bodily affliction. In- 
deed, the facility with which a Jew could get a divorce 
was so great that it had become a scandal among their 
heathen neighbors. 



l66 1HE STORY OF JESUS. 

Some of the Jewish teachers defended themselves by 
claiming that it was a privilege especially granted the 
Jews, but not to other people. Such teaching was 
worthy of Mohammed, but never was sanctioned by 
Moses or any of the inspired writers, and is here de- 
nounced by Jesus, who taught that there is only one 
legal ground of divorce, and that is fornication on the 
part of either husband or wife. In the sight of heaven 
sin is sin, whether in man or woman. No wonder Jesus 
stirred up the bitterest enmity of the scribes and Phari- 
sees against himself, when, by his teaching, he exposed 
the iniquity of their lives and doctrines. 

Another evil practice of the day was the use or abuse 
of oaths. Here again the Jewish teachers lowered the 
standard of their teaching to suit the times, and per- 
mitted what God had strictly prohibited. Moses had 
absolutely forbidden perjury or false swearing, but these 
Jewish teachers taught the people how to evade God's 
law. Judicial oaths were worthless ; no one could be 
believed on his oath. In common conversation "men 
swear by heaven, by the earth, by the sun, by the 
prophets, by the temple, by Jerusalem, by the altar, by 
the wood used for it, by the sacrifices, by. the temple's 
vessels, by their own heads ; ' ' but they kept none of 
them, because the name of God was not expressly 
used in them. Such were regarded as ( ' mock oaths, 
harmless to themselves, and of no binding force." 
u Any oath, any deception towards God or man, and 
even perjury itself, was thus sanctioned, if it were only 
consecrated and purified by an offering. ' ' 

Against all this our Saviour opposes his authority : 
" Swear not at all " by these things. In your conver- 
sation say ( ' Yes, ' y or u No, ' ' which is as emphatic as an 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 167 

oath, and as reliable, for more than this is sinful as 
swearing. Jesus does not forbid judicial oaths, that is, 
oaths solemnly taken before God in a court of justice. 
It is the wicked habit of swearing in conversation and 
the sin of perjury that he forbids. 

From these matters Jesus turns to consider the sub- 
ject of retaliation. Revenge for injuries seemed to have 
the sanction of Moses because of things allowed in the 
state of society then existing, but Jesus lays down a 
different law for his kingdom. The rule that he who 
deprives another of a tooth or an eye must lose his tooth 
or eye is no longer admissible. The Jews had construed 
the laws given to regulate the decisions of judges, as 
justifying private revenge. Jesus shows the better way : 
turn to the smiter the other cheek ; give to him that 
would take thy coat thy cloak also ; if impressed to go 
a mile in the service of the king, go two without com- 
pulsion ; give to the needy and lend to the undeserving. 
The principle here inculcated is, "Resist not evil ;" 
suffer rather than do evil ; overcome evil with good. 
Law is not to cease, nor is the evil doer to have every- 
thing at his mercy. u The spirit of such injunctions is 
evident ; all should be governed as far as possible by love ; 
hasty retaliation, readiness to stand on one's rights on 
all occasions, deliberate revenge rather than pity, are 
unworthy a member of the new kingdom." 

Jesus corrects the Jewish teachers on another point. 
They taught that one should love his friend but hate 
his enemy. How far removed from this is the beautiful 
instruction of our Saviour : ' ' But I say unto you, love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you and pray for them which despite- 
fully use you and persecute you ; that ye may be the 



i68 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



children of your Father who is in heaven ; for he mak- 
eth his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send- 
eth rain on the just and on the unjust." 

Even the publicans, the despised tax-gatherers of a 
heathen government, love one another. What virtue 
or reward is there in loving only those that love you ? 
Strive for the perfection that you find in God. 




RUINS OF KERAZEH, OR CHORAZIN. 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 169 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — C. 

MATTHEW VI. 

T_T AVING expounded the law according to its spir- 
-*- -^ itual nature, Jesus next teaches the right way of 
performing religious duties. The Jewish people 
were great givers. They contributed largely for the 
needs of religion and for the relief of their fellow-Jews, 
but they had some misconceptions of this duty that 
needed correction. They did not have right motives in 
giving. It is proper to give before men, but not in order 
to be seen of them. God does not reward givers who 
seek the praise of men. There were those who called 
attention to their own alms-giving in the streets and syn- 
agogues by causing a trumpet to be blown when they 
gave. They had their reward, — men praised them. We 
must give in secret before God, who shall reward us 
openly. 

The same principle Jesus extends to prayer. Hypoc- 
risy was practised in this. There were men who loved 
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street- 
corners. Not that prayer in public was wrong, but they 
were hypocrites who prayed to be seen and praised by 
men ; this was their desired reward, and they received 
it. Jesus commends closet-prayer, which none but God 
can hear, and to which God's answer will be publicly 
given. Some of the Jews used vain and foolish repeti- 
tions in their prayers, like the heathen or like those who 
"called on Baal from morning until noon, saying, O 
8 



170 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

Baal, hear us ! ' ' The efficacy of prayer is not in its 
length. Short prayers have been answered when they 
expressed the feelings of a true and trustful heart, but 
vain and foolish ones never reach the ear of God. 
In this connection, Jesus says : 

" After this manner pray ye : Our Father, which art in heaven, 
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done 
in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread : 
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us 
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil : For thine is the 
kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen." 

This inimitable prayer, commonly called the Lord's 
Prayer, is given us as a model or pattern. Jesus adds 
that we must forgive if we hope to be forgiven. While 
this is given as a model prayer, it is not designed or pre- 
scribed as a form to be always used, but rather to indicate 
in substance what should be the character of our prayers. 

The Jews fasted frequently. They observed the four 
annual fasts, commemorating the capture of Jerusalem, 
the burning of the temple, the death of Gedaliah and 
the commencement of the attack on Jerusalem ; and in 
addition to these they had a multitude of occasional 
fasts. Besides, the Pharisees fasted twice a week. Dur- 
ing these fasts they abstained from food and drink, 
wholly, or in part, and feigned great grief. They wore 
sad countenances ; disfigured their faces ; neglected to 
wash ; went with uncombed hair, filthy and squalid ; 
threw ashes on their heads and faces ; and presented a 
picture of woe. When you fast, says Jesus, conduct 
yourself as usual, in a natural way. Fast when the 
grief of your heart disposes you to do so, but let your 
humiliation be before God, and not before men to be 
seen of them. 






SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 



I 7 I 



jL'ijgiffl 



Jesus next warns his disciples against the besetting sin 
of every age — worldliness. The riches of an eastern 
man consisted not only in precious gems and metals, but 
also in costly garments, which were handed down from 
father to son, and from mother to daughter, and were 

bought and sold or kept 
as treasures. Rust could 
corrupt their silver and 
gold, and the moth could 
destroy their costliest 
clothing, while thieves 
could steal all. Hence, 
Jesus admonishes his fol- 
lowers to lay up treasure 
in heaven, where neither 
moth nor rust could de- 
stroy and where thieves 
could not break through 
and steal ; because where 
their treasure was there 
would their hearts be also. 
Besides, if their minds 
were darkened by ava- 
rice, they could not expect to have unobscured spiritual 
vision or to gain the true and lasting riches. They 
could not have treasure in heaven and on earth, nor 
could they have light and darkness of mind, nor serve 
both God and mammon, the god of earthly riches. 
They cannot serve two masters, for they will soon hate 
the one and love the other. For these reasons he urged 
them to take no undue or anxious thought about the 
future, but to trust God, who feeds the birds of the air 
and makes the lily grow, and who much more would 




PHARISEE PRAYING. 



172 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



clothe and feed them. How sublime are the words with 
which Jesus closes this thought ! The heathen seek after 
earthly treasures, but ' l seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness : and all these things shall be 
added unto you. ' ' 




RUINS OE THEATRE AT EPHESUS. 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT, jj^ 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — D. 

Matthew vii. 

JESUS now directs their thoughts to their duties to 
their fellow-men. A sin most conspicuous in the 
lives and teaching of both the rulers and people of 
Israel was bigotry. Bigotry refers not so much to what 
religious views one holds as to the spirit in which he 
holds them. The Jew was known the world over for his 
intolerance. Jesus strikes at the roots of a universal sin 
when he says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged, v for 
God and your fellow-men will judge you as you judge 
others. Remove the great beam out of your own eye 
before you try to take the little mote out of your broth- 
er's eye ; that is, see and correct your own greater fail- 
ings first, and do not judge others too harshly, lest you 
make yourself liable to the charge of hypocrisy. On 
the other hand his disciples were to be on their guard 
to protect divine things from improper persons. There 
are men who have no more regard for holy things than 
dogs, and others who can no more appreciate the precious 
things of the gospel than wild hogs can value pearls cast 
before them to appease their hunger. 

Again Jesus directs his followers to go in prayer to the 
divine source of all strength and guidance and comfort. 
u Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you." An earthly 
father will not give his son, who asks for bread, a stone, 
nor for a fish, a serpent, but will give him what he asks ; 



174 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

much more will God, our heavenly Father, give us the 
good things we need in answer to our prayers. 

The Lord has set forth the nature and duties of his 
kingdom, and now he sums up in one comprehensive 
rule the whole duty of man to man : ' ' Therefore all 
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the 
prophets." This is properly called the Saviour's Golden 
Rule, because of its great value. It has been thus 
interpreted : 

"All that you expect or desire of others in similar circum- 
stances, do to them. Act not from selfishness or injustice, but 
put yourself in the place of the other, and ask what you would 
expect of him then. This would make you impartial, candid 
and just. It would destroy avarice, treacher}-, unkindness, 
slander, theft, adultery and murder. It has been well said that 
this law is what the balance-wheel is to machinery. It would 
prevent all irregularity of movement in the moral world, as it 
does in a steam engine. It is easily applied, its justice is seen 
by all men, and all must acknowledge its force and value." 

He who looks out only for number one violates 
Christ's golden rule. The Saviour adds some words ol 
exhortation and warning. He urges his hearers to enter 
into the narrow gate found by few, that opens into the 
narrow way, which leads to life eternal ; and not to 
enter with the many the wide gate, nor to walk in the 
broad way that leads to eternal destruction. He warns 
them also against false teachers, who will come among 
them as wolves disguised as sheep, but who are to be 
recognized by their fruits. Good fruit grows only on 
good trees. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 
of thistles ? The tree is known by its fruit. ' ' 

"Not every one," continues the divine teacher, 
"that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the king- 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 



J 75 



dom of heaven ; but he that does the will of my 
Father, who is in heaven. Many will say to me in the 
day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
in thy name ? And in thy name cast out demons ? And 
in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then 
will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart 
from me ye that work iniquity. ' ' From these solemn 
words we learn that obedience from the heart to the 
commands of Christ is necessary to the eternal salvation 
of the soul. Christ himself is the judge, and with him 
it rests to say, "Depart." Hearing is not enough, nor 
the outward performance of wonderful works, but obe- 
dience in faith and love. ' ' Therefore ' ' the Lord con- 
cludes, ' ' whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and 
doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built 
his house upon a rock ; and the rain descended, and the 
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house ; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock, 
and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who 
built his house upon the sand ; and the rain descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house ; and it fell ; and great was the fall of it. ' ' 

It is no wonder that when Jesus had concluded this 
remarkable sermon that the people were astonished at 
his doctrine, and realized that he taught them as one 
having authority, and not as the scribes. "The teach- 
ing of their scribes was narrow, dogmatical, material ; 
it was cold in manner, frivolous in matter, second-hand 
and iterative in every sentence, with no fullness in it, no 
force, no fire ; servile to all authority, opposed to all in- 
dependence ; at once erudite and foolish, at once con- 
temptuous and mean ; never passing a hair breadth be- 



176 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

yond the carefully watched boundary line of commen- 
tary and precedent — concerned only about priests and 
Pharisees, in temple and synagogue, or school, or San- 
hedrin, and mostly occupied with things infinitely little. 
... It was occupied a thousand-fold more with Leviti- 
cal minutiae about mint and anise, and cummin, and the 
length of the fringes and the breadth of the phylacter- 
ies, and the washing of cups and platters, and the par- 
ticular quarter of a second when new moons and Sab- 
bath days began. ' ' 

4 ' But this teaching of Jesus was wholly different in 
its character, and as much grander as the temple of the 
morning sky, under which it was uttered, was grander 
than the stifling synagogues or crowded school. . . . 
And it dealt not with scrupulous tithes and ceremonial 
cleansings, but with the human soul, and human des- 
tiny, and human life, with hope and charity, and faith. 
Springing from the depths of holy emotions, it thrilled 
the being of every listener as with electric flame. In a 
word, its authority was the authority of the divine in- 
carnate ; it was the voice of God, speaking in the utter- 
ance of man ; its austere purity was yet pervaded with 
tenderest sympathy, and its awful severity with an un- 
utterable love. . . . He knew all life, and had gazed on 
it with a kindly glance as well as kingly. He could 
sympathize with its joys no less than he could heal its 
sorrows. And the eyes that were so often suffused with 
tears as they saw the sufferings of earth's mourners be- 
side the bed of death, had shone also with a kindlier 
glow as they watched the games of earth's happy little 
ones in the green fields and busy streets. ' ' 



A LEPER HEALED. 



177 



CHAPTER XXX. 

A LEPER HEALED. 
Matt. viii. 1-4 ; Mark i. 40-45 ; L,uke v. 12-16.— Some town in Galilee, ad. 28. 

IT has only been lately that we have known anything 
in this country of that dreadful disease which pre- 
vails to such a great extent in eastern lands, — the 
leprosy. There is no disease that affects the human 
family more dreadfully than this. It first exhibits itself 
on the surface of the skin, generally resembling a spot 
made by the puncture of a pin, or the pustules of a ring- 
worm ; but it appears also in other forms. The spots 
appear very suddenly and commonly at first on the face, 
about the eyes and nose, increasing in size until in the 
course of years they become as large as a pea. The 
spots are red, white and black, from which colors the 
three kinds of leprosy take their name. The spots are 
few at the beginning, but grow and spread all over the 
body. The appearance of these spots is hastened by 
sudden fear or anger. Though the disease appears 
on the surface of the skin, yet it is deeply seated in the 
bones, marrow and joints of the body, but it is often 
concealed for years. If children are affected by it, the 
disease shows itself at the age of puberty. " A leprous 
person may live twenty, or thirty, or even fifty years, if 
he received the disease at his birth, but they will be 
years of indescribable misery. The malady advances 
from one stage to another with slow and certain ruin, 
'life still lingers amidst the desolation,' the joints and 

3* 



A LEPER HEALED. 



I 79 



the hands and the feet lose their power ; and the body 
collapses or falls together, in a form hideous and awful." 
"There is one form of the disease in which it com- 
mences at the extremities : the joints separate ; the fin- 
gers, toes and other members, one by one, fall off. The 
wretched victim is thus doomed to see himself dying 
piece-meal, assured that no human power can arrest for 
a moment the silent and steady inarch of this foe to the 
seat of life." The disease is contagious and hereditary. 
It is sometimes transmitted to the third and fourth gen- 
eration. The leprosy is regarded as unclean by the cere- 
monial law of Moses. The ordinances concerning it in 
the Jewish law have a greater significance than that 
of a mere sanitary regulation. It was an impressive type 
of the terrible reality of sin within the soul and of its 
dreadful ravages in the spiritual nature. It was regarded 
as a living death, and lepers were hence unclean, like a 
dead body. It was pollution to touch a leper, and un- 
lawful for all such to associate with others. Driven from 
the habitations of men, from temple, synagogue, home, 
city, friends and relatives, the leper was alone in the 
world, except as they themselves congregated together, 
and the most stringent laws were made to enforce this 
separation and isolation. A leper was not permitted to 
drink of a stream of water, nor use a vessel meant for 
others, and upon the approach of others was required to 
get out of the way and to cry, unclean ! unclean ; as a 
note of warning. The uncovered head and the cloth 
worn over the lips and hanging down over the chin, 
were signs by which leprous persons could always be 
distinguished. 

Thompson speaks of leprosy as it now exists in the 
East : 



180 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

'* Wandering a little way outside the walls of the city, we came 
upon the dwellings of the lepers. The place is separated from all 
other human habitations, and consists of a rude court or inclosure 
containing about twenty huts or kennels At the sound of voices 
and footsteps the lepers came out into the sunlight, clamoring 
with the most unearthly sounds for charity. Death was visibly 
eating them away. Some were of a livid color, others white as 
snow— all deformed. Handless arms were held out to us ; half- 
consumed limbs were obtruded ; countenances wofully defaced 
and eyeless were turned up to us, and cries came out from palateless 
mouths that were wildly imploring and inhuman. The old law 
which prohibited the leper from touching or drawing near to a 
person was scrupulously regarded by them, so that even when 
they begged they stretched out little iron cups into which we 
might drop our alms. As we looked on these rotting wrecks of 
humanity we saw* with deepened impression with what instruc- 
tive fitness leprosy has been employed in scripture as the emblem 
of sin — hereditary, contagious, ever tending to increase, and in- 
curable, except by the power of God." 

When Jesus had finished the sermon and came down 
from the mountain great multitudes followed him. 
From the crowd he sought refuge in some city of Gali- 
lee. While there a leper came kneeling down and be- 
seeching him to heal him, saying: " Lord, if thou wilt 
thou canst make me clean ; " not only clean in the eyes 
of the law, but free from the disease. Jesus did what no 
Jew was allowed to do, and from which all men seemed 
to shrink, he put fortV his hand and touched the leper, 
saying, "I will ; be thou clean ;" and "as soon as he 
had spoken immediately the leprosy departed from 
him and he was cleansed." Jesus charged him to tell 
no man that he was cured, because of the rising op- 
position to him, and because the priests might refuse 
to pronounce him clean and give him a certificate to 
return home to his family if it were known that Jesus 
had healed him. " See thou say nothing to any man; 



A LEPER HEALED. i8l 

but go thy way; show thyself to the priest, and offer 
for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, 
for a testimony unto them." That is, he was told to 
hasten and show himself to the priest and make the 
customary offering in the temple, and get from the 
priest his testimony that the cure was genuine. But 
it was a journey of forty or fifty miles to Jerusalem, 
and the man "went out" and published it abroad so 
that Jesus could not openly enter the city for the 
crowd, but retired to desert places ; but even here the 
people found him and came from every quarter to 
hear him and be healed by him of their infirmities. 




AN ORIENTAL AT PRAYER. 



1 8 7, THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



A 



CHAPTER XXX I. 

THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 

Matt. ix. 2-8 ; mark ii. 1-12 ; luke v. 17-26. — Capernaum a.d. 28. 

FTER some days Jesus returned to Capernaum 



and went into "the house," probably Peter's, 
with whom he resided. It was soon "noised 
abroad ' ' that he was there, and people crowded to 
see and hear him. A man's house in the East is not 
his castle, as among the Anglo-Saxon races, but is free 
of access to all, except the rooms set apart for females. 
Hence the people on this occasion crowded into the 
house, filling the entrance or passage-way and the in- 
terior room or court. To understand this scene it is 
first necessary to understand something of the construc- 
tion of eastern houses. They were neatly built, square 
in form and one story in height. The sides facing the 
street were blank walls, except one side, in which was 
a door in the centre, and directly over it a single lat- 
ticed window. The door opened into a room called the 
porch, in which business was transacted and visitors re- 
ceived. The porch also served as a passage-way to the 
large square room or court in the centre of the house. 
This court is paved commonly with marble, and some- 
times has a fountain of water in the centre to give it 
beauty and to diffuse a grateful coolness. This room is 
surrounded by a gallery or covered walk, from which 
doors open into the other apartments of the house. 

"This centre room or court is commonly uncovered 
or open above. In wet weather, however, and in time 



THE PARAL YTIC HEALED. 



183 



of great heat of the sun, it is covered with an awning 
or canvas, stretched on cords and capable of being easily 
removed or rolled up. ' ' From the court to the roof the 
ascent is by flights of stairs, either in the covered walk 
or gallery, or in the porch. Sometimes the roof is 
reached by stairs from the street outside. The roof is 
nearly flat. It is made of earth ; or, in the houses of the 
rich, is a firmly constructed flooring, made of coals, 
chalk, gypsum and ashes, made hard by repeated blows. 
On these roofs spears of grass, wheat or barley some- 
times spring up; but these are soon withered by the sun. 
The roof is a favorite place for walking, for repose in the 
cool of the day, for conversation and devotion. On such 
a roof Rahab concealed the spies; Samuel talked with 
Saul; David walked at eventide; and Peter went up to 
pray. Railings usually rose on every side to prevent any 
one from falling into the street. 

Jesus was in such .^«s=._ 

a house as this when 
the multitude crowd- 
ed every space in the 
court and the passage 
leading to it and even 
about the door out- 
side. There was 
brought to him at 
this time a poor af- 
flicted man bedrid- 
den, stricken with 
paralysis. He could 




not come himself, 
but his friends car- 
ried him on his bed. 



OUTSIDE STAIRCASE OF AN EASTERN 
HOUSE. 

When they reached the house they 



184 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

were con fronted- with difficulties, that would have delayed, 
if not turned back, less determined men. The throng 
pressed so close about the door that it was impossible 
to enter the house. The house was equally thronged 
inside. 

The first thing that these four persevering men did 
was to gain the roof of the house, which they may have 
done by ascending the stairs from the outside in the 
street, or ascending to the top of one of the adjoining 
houses and walking from house to house. In eastern 
cities one may walk a considerable distance on the flat 
roofs of the houses. Reaching the house-top, they re- 
moved the covering over the court, and lowered with 
cords the sick man, until his bed or mattress rested at 
the feet of Jesus. 

It is not in every case that sin is the immediate cause 
of sickness, and Jesus takes occasion to correct this 
error. But he knew when sin was the cause of any 
bodily disease, and so observing the faith of these men, 
both the sick man and those that brought him, — who, 
through all these obstacles had persevered, till the Sav- 
iour was reached, he said, "Son be of good cheer; thy 
sins be forgiven thee." But there were certain of the 
scribes present who said to themselves, this man speaks 
blasphemies. Who can forgive sins but God only? 
Jesus knowing their thoughts propounded to them 
a question, which silenced them, and proved that he had 
power to forgive sins. "Why reason ye these things in 
your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick 
of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, arise, 
take up thy bed and walk?" We can see, and so did 
these murmuring Jews, that it was far easier to say, 
" thy sins be forgiven thee," for who could tell whether 



THE PARAL YTIC HEALED. 



I8 5 



they were forgiven him or not; but if he said " take up 
thy bed and walk, ' ' the power of Jesus could at once be 
seen. 

" But," Jesus said to the scribes, " that ye may know 

that the Son of man _^^^ -■.- 

hath power on earth 
to forgive sins, (he 
saith to the sick of 
the palsy) I say unto 
thee, arise, take up 
thy bed and go thy 
way unto thine own 
house." And he who 
had been carried 
there a helpless in- 
valid immediately 
arose, took up his ^=^=ggpjjgl 
couch and departed, 
glorifying God. The 

effect upon the people was striking. They were amazed 
and glorified God, being also filled with fear, saying, 
"We have never seen it on this fashion, we have seen 
strange things to-day." 




COURT OF AN EASTERN HOUSE. 



1 86 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

MATTHEW'S CAIX AND FEAST. 
MATT.ix. 9-17 ; Mark ii. 13-22 ; I/uke v. 27-39.— Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

AMONG the many who lived at Capernaum, for 
the time unmoved by the teachings and miracles 
of the Lord, was a publican by the name of Mat- 
thew or Levi, the son of Alpheus. He had doubtless 
heard his discourses, and had seen the crowd at Peter's 
house bringing their sick to Jesus to be cured, but seem- 
ingly he was no nearer the kingdom of heaven than before. 
He still pursued his calling as a publican. But Jesus 
knew his heart. Jesus had so far chosen six persons to 
be his immediate followers and apostles, and this man 
was to be the seventh. As the writer of the first gospel, 
he has transmitted to us a record of the works and 
teachings of Jesus. 

A publican was a tax gatherer. It was galling to the 
Jews to be in subjection to a heathen government, and 
hence they hated the men who collected taxes from them 
for the heathen emperor at Rome. Such persons were 
classed among the vilest of men, and consequently the 
office was generally filled by outcasts, who further drew 
on them the contempt of the people by their cruelty and 
oppression. A Jew who became a publican was cast out 
of the synagogue, and excluded from the temple, and 
regarded as a renegade. Jesus was scornfully called 
u the friend of publicans and sinners," because he 
sought to save the lost. We are told that this Jewish 
publican, Matthew, was " sitting at the receipt of 



MATTHEWS CALL AND FEAST. 187 

custom," that is, was in a house or booth receiving 
tribute or taxes from the people. These taxes were 
levied upon goods brought across the sea, or by caravans 
over land to Capernaum. When Jesus said "Follow 
me," Matthew left all, arose and followed him. It was 
much for him to do, and to do promptly, too, as he did, 
to leave his all, — his occupation and his livelihood, to be 
a disciple and apostle of Jesus, who had not where to 
lay his head. 

Matthew seems to have been a man of means, for 
he gave a feast in honor of Jesus, in his own house. 
Along with Jesus and his disciples, "there was a great 
company of publicans and others who sat down with 
them." The "others" are called "sinners" by two 
of the evangelists, which according to the Jewish public 
opinion meant "usurers, gamblers, thieves, publicans, 
shepherds, and sellers of fruit grown in the Sabbath 
years." 

1 ' It might seem doubtful whether Jesus would sit down with 
such a company, for even with us it would be a bold step for any 
public teacher to join a gathering of persons in bad repute. The 
admission of Matthew to the discipleship must have seemed to 
many a great mistake. Nothing could more certainly damage 
the prospects of Jesus with the influential classes, or create a 
wider and deeper prejudice and distrust. But nothing weighed 
for a moment with him against truth and right. His soul was 
filled with a grand enthusiasm for humanity, and no false or 
narrow exclusiveness of the day could be allowed to stand in its 
way. He accepted the invitation with readiest cheerfulness, and 
spent the evening in the pleasure of friendly intercourse with the 
strange assembly." 

This action of Jesus brought upon him unfriendly 
criticism from two sources : from the disciples of John 
and from the Pharisees. The Pharisees, who believed 
in feasting found fault with him because he consorted 



1 88 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

with publicans and sinners, and the disciples of John, 
who made so much of fasting, were offended because 
Jesus attended a feast. The L,ord replies to them both. 
His reply to the Pharisees, who complained to his disci- 
ples, was that his purpose in coming was to save men, 
and that as a physician he came to the sick and not to 
the well, and as Saviour he came to sinners and not to 
the righteous ; that is, those who, like the Pharisees, 
thought themselves good enough. These fault-finders 
did not comprehend the spirit of Jesus, who was willing 
to stoop to the lowest in order to save them. "Go," 
said Jesus, "and learn what this meaneth, I will have 
mercy and not sacrifice." What were all the burnt 
offerings made in the temple to God, if love and mercy 
to man were wanting? God would receive no such 
worship. 

But the disciples of the imprisoned John, who had 
been directed to Jesus, were in honest doubt and greatly 
troubled. ' ' Why do we and the Pharisees, ' ' they 
asked, "fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" The 
Pharisees fasted twice a week in addition to the great 
national fast days. John had come fasting, but Jesus 
fasted not, and seemed to be changing the established 
custom of the nation. And besides, just then the disci- 
ples of John were filled with sorrow on account of their 
master's imprisonment. Jesus answered them in a way 
to show that he believed in fasting as a natural expres- 
sion of sorrow and that there were times when absti- 
nence from food is fitting and proper. 

Three illustrations were used by our Saviour in his 
reply to them. The first was that the special friends of 
the bridegroom do not fast while the bridegroom is with 
them. The time would come when he the bride- 



MATTHEW'S CALL AND FEAST. 189 

groom would be removed, and then his disciples would 
mourn and fast. The second was that no one in mend- 
ing an old garment would take a new or undressed piece 
of cloth to mend the rent, lest by its contraction the 
rent should be made worse. The new doctrines of the 
gospel and the ancient practices of the Pharisees do not 
suit each other ; the entire garment must be made of 
new material. The third illustration was that if new 
wine were put into old bottles, made of the skin of ani- 
mals, the fermentation of the wine would burst the dry 
and unyielding skin, and the wine would be lost. By 
this Jesus meant that his doctrines and teachings could 
not be confined in the old and corrupt Jewish teachings 
and customs. Christianity was not a part of Judaism, 
and could not be patched on to it, nor confined with- 
in it. 



Clc 




STORM ON THE; SEA OF GAIJI.EE. ' 



190 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

JAIRUS' DAUGHTER. 

Matt ix. 18, 19, 25-26; Mark v. 22-24, 35~43 ; I/UKE viii. 41, 42, 49-56.— Capernaum, 

a.d. 28. 

^ I ^HE feast of Matthew is over, and Jesus is in the 
-*- streets again. A man approaches him with deep 
agitation and presents a case that at once ap- 
peals to his sympathies. The man is Jairus, the well- 
known ruler, or chief elder of the synagogue at Caper- 
naum. This man's only daughter, a young girl twelve 
years of age, is very ill, at the point of death, and even 
now probably dead. Jairus entreats Jesus to go with 
him and put his hands on her, for he feels sure she would 
be restored if Jesus would only do this. Jairus, accord- 
ing to the custom of the East, fell upon his face on the 
ground before the L,ord. He thought Jesus, as other 
prophets had done in conferring a blessing, would put his 
hands upon the sick child. But this was not at all neces- 
sary. When Naaman, the Syrian leper, went to the 
prophet to be cured, at the instance of the little Hebrew 
captive maid, the prophet simply bade him go and bathe 
in the Jordan. 

Jesus, however, went as he was requested. While 
they were going, a messenger arrived from the house of 
Jairus, who confirmed his worst fears by announcing the 
death of his child. "Thy daughter is dead," they said, 
u why trouble the master any farther?" The faith of 
the grief-stricken father, it may be, for a moment wav- 
ered at the dread message and the apparent hopelessness 
of the case. But Jesus, turning to him, said : " Be not 






JAIRVS' DAUGHTER. 191 

afraid, only believe." What divine comfoit was in these 
reassuring words ! 

When Jesns, accompanied by the multitude, reached 
the house of Jairus he found, not only that the girl was 
dead, but that preparations were making for the funeral. 
It was customary, with eastern people, to make great 
outcries upon the death of friends. They knew nothing 
of that silent, self-control of more cultivated people, 
which is just as consistent with true and genuine sorrow 
as the more violent form of expression. The dead were 
laid out for burial immediately. The bereaved relatives 
and friends then crowded the chamber of death and 
loudly bewailed the departed, recounting his deeds and 
character in mournful songs, and shrieking without tak- 
ing breath until the voice died away in a low sob. In 
doleful strains they ask why he left his pleasant home 
and his loving family and his kind friends. In addition 
to this, professional mourners were hired for such occa- 
sions, who not only lifted their own voices in extreme 
and doleful expressions of sorrow, but who also played 
upon musical instruments soft and solemn tunes. This 
was often kept up for a week, and, in case of the death of 
a king, for a month, and was not confined to the house, 
but the mourners followed the body to the grave, where 
the lamentation was continued for some time. The Jews 
were forbidden to tear their hair and cut their flesh, as 
the heathen did, but they expressed their grief in other 
excessive ways : " by howling, by music, by concealing 
their chin with their garments, by rending their outer 
garments, by refusing to wash or anoint themselves, or 
to converse with people, or by scattering ashes or dust in 
the air, or by lying down in them. " " The expressions 
the case mentioned were excessive and foolish, but strictly 
in accordance with eastern customs. ' ' 



192 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

Jesus at length arrives at the house of mourning. He 
saw the people and heard their tumult, and said, " Give 
place, ' ' make way for me ; ( ' for the maid is not dead 
but sleepeth." This was what Jesus said of Lazarus, 
but when he saw he was misunderstood, he said, "Laza- 
rus is dead." The evidences of the death of this young 
woman were abundant. The Sadducees taught that, the 
dead ceased to be, and perhaps this ruler was a Sad- 
ducee. Jesus meant that she had not ceased to be, that 
her spirit was alive, that she should wake, as all others 
would, at the resurrection. But these professional 
mourners and friends were not to be so easily driven 
away. They did not understand him, and hence derided 
and ridiculed him, for they were sure that the maid was 
dead. 

Jesus then pressed in among them and drove them 
all out of the house, and taking with him only the 
young girl's parents and three of the disciples, — Peter, 
John and James,— he went again into the now silent 
chamber of the dead. These were enough to witness 
the resurrection. Taking the child by the hand, he 
said, in the language of the people, u Talitha cumi," 
which means, "Damsel, arise." She arose and walked, 
restored to life, and he gave her to her parents alive and 
well. He told them to give her something to eat, for 
she must have needed food after such an experience, and 
in the excitement it might be forgotten ; she was alive, 
but she was liable to die again. He charged the parents 
to tell no one, for he was already in danger, and his 
work was likely to be hindered. It is not to be won- 
dered at that the parents and others were astonished, 
and that the fame of Jesus spread rapidly on account of 
this great miracle. 



WHO TOUCHED ME?" 193 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

"who touched me?" 

Matt. ix. 20-22, 27-34 ; Mark v. 25-34; I/UKE viii. 43-48.— Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

\ "X 7HILE Jesus was on the way to the house of 
V V Jairus, surrounded by his disciples and the 
multitude, and while all were doubtless think- 
ing of the sick v\r\ and the distressed father, an incident 
of great interest occurred. A woman drew near, pressing 
through the crowd, and "touched the hem of his gar- 
ment," the fringe or border of loose threads hanging like 
a tassel at each corner of his long square cloak, which, 
worn over the shoulders, hung nearly to the ground. She 
had suffered from an incurable internal disease for twelve 
years, and had spent all her money on the physicians, 
and had endured much pain at their hands; but instead 
of getting well, had grown worse. 

The ignorant physicians from whom this woman suf- 
fered so many things are not to be compared with the 
enlightened and humane physicians of to-day. Medical 
practice was not based upon science as it is now. Geikie 
says that, according to the Talmud, the Jewish medical 
treatment of such a complaint was as follows: 

" Take the gum of Alexandria, the weight of a zuzee, — a frac- 
tional silver coin, — of alum the same; of crocus the same. Let 
them be bruised together and be given in wine, to the woman . 
If this does not benefit, take of Persian onions three logs — pints; 
— boil them in wine and give her to drink, and say, ' Arise.' If 
this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet, 
and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand, and let some 

9 



194 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

one come behind and frighten her, and say, ' Arise. ' But if this 
does no good, take a handful of cummin — a kind of fennel, — a 
handful of crocus and a handful of fenegreek, — another kind of 
fennel. Let these be boiled in wine, and give them her to drink, 
and say, 'Arise.' If these do no good, other doses, over ten in 
number, are prescribed; among them, this : let them dig seven 
ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines, not yet 
four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let 
them lead her away from this ditch, and make her sit down over 
that and let them remove her from that, and make her sit down 
over another, saying to her at each remove, ' Arise. ' ' ' 

But these were only a few of the more harmless pre- 
scriptions in vogue. The condition of medical science 
in the Bast may be judged from its character at the 
centre of civilization and progress in the West. Pliny's 
Natural History gives us some curious glimpses of this. 
Ashes of burnt wolf's skull, stags' horns, the heads of 
mice, the eyes of crabs, owls' brains, the livers of frogs, 
vipers' fat, grasshoppers, cats, etc., supplied the alkalis 
which were prescribed. Physicians were wont to order 
doses of the gall of wild swine, of horses' foam, of 
woman's milk ; the laying a piece of serpent's skin on 
an affected part, the fat of bears, the juice of boiled 
bucks' horns, and other similar abominations. Cold in 
the head was cured by kissing a mule's nose. Sore 
throat was removed by embrocations of snails' slime, and 
the inhalation of the fumes of snails slowly burnt. 
Quinsy was cured with the brain of a marsh owl ; dis- 
eases of the lungs, with mouse-flesh ; disorders of the 
stomach with boiled snails, of which, however, only an 
odd number must be taken ; frogs' eyes were useful for 
contusions, if the eyes were taken out at the conjunc- 
tion of the moon and kept in an egg-shell. Frogs boiled 
in vinegar were sovereign for toothache ; for cough, the 



WHO TOUCHED ME r 



95 



slime of frogs which had been hung up by the feet ; for 
rupture, sea hedge-hogs dissolved in asses' milk ; for 
diseases of the glands, scorpions boiled in wine ; for 
ague or intermittent fever, slime from the head of sea 
eels, but it must be taken out at full moon. 

The poor woman who now determined to seek help 
from Jesus, had endured all the tortures of such medical 
treatment for twelve years, and of course she was hurt 
rather than healed. Is there any wonder that she came 
with fear and trembling, dreading to ask or even to be 
seen or known ? But she had faith, weak as she was, to 
believe that a simple touch, the contact of her finger 
with the fringe of the Great Physician's cloak, would 
be all sufficient. And, pressing forward, she touched him, 
and withdrew a well woman. 

But she was not unobserved. Jesus knew it all, 
but wishing to open the way for a free confession 
from her, asked aloud, u Who touched me?'.' The 
disciples reminded him that the people were press- 
ing him on all sides, and in the excitement even 
jostling against him. Yet he felt and recognized 
the touch of faith. The woman, seeing that she was 
discovered, came forward tiembling, and fell down 
before him, and declared before all the people why she 
had touched him and how she had been immediately 
healed. Jesus did this that God might be glorified, and 
kindly said, ■ ' Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith 
hath made thee whole." 

According to Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical 
history, who lived a.d. 300, a statue of this woman, and 
of Jesus healing her, still existed in his day. This mon- 
ument has crumbled, but the lessons of the incident 
remain. The same great soul-need exists among men 



196 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

to-day ; Jesus, able to cure and to save, still moves among 
men, and is with us in our religious meetings, in our 
homes, in our business, in our shops and in our streets ; 
yet only one here and there of the multitude that presses 
about him is saved. Jesus now also requires us, as he 
did her, to confess publicly what he has done for us. 

When Jesus left the house of Jairus, two blind men 
followed him, crying, "Thou son of David, have mercy 
on us." They had followed him into the house where 
he went, probably Peter's, and he said to them, "Be- 
lieve ye that I am able to do this ? ' ' And when they 
answered "Yes," he touched their eyes and their sight 
was restored. He told them to tell no man, but they 
spread his fame abroad. 

When he went out into the streets again they brought 
unto him a dumb man possessed with a demon, and 
when Jesus cast out the evil spirit, the dumb spake, and 
the people marveled, saying, " It was never so seen in 
Israel," but the Pharisees said, " He casteth out devils 
by the prince of devils." 



BOOK FIFTH 



FROM THE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE 

PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS TO THE 

THIRD PASSOVER. 

A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, FROM APRIL A.D. 2S TO APRIL A.D. 29. 

(i97) 




(198) "lord, save us, we perish." 



T 



THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 199 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 
John v. 1-15.— Jerusalem, a.d. 28. 

HE last scenes in the life of our Lord that we have 
witnessed were at Capernaum. After this there 
was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to 
Jerusalem. This is all we are told until we find him at 
the Pool of Bethesda. Often we can take the map and 
trace the very route Jesus took from one place to another 
with his disciples, and note some incidents which oc- 
curred by the way. But on this occasion a marvelous 
secrecy is preserved ; and what is more, Jesus seems to 
be alone. He comes and goes this time without his dis- 
ciples. What this " feast of the Jews " was is unknown. 
It was doubtless one of the feasts connected with the 
Passover, or rather preceding it. There is no evidence 
that Jesus remained for the Passover. What it was that 
brought him to Jerusalem, and took him away as mys- 
teriously as he came, we can but conjecture. This visit 
was the turning-point in the life of our Lord ; it was the 
end of the first year of his ministry and the beginning of 
the second. 

Where the "Pool of Bethesda," or the House of 
Mercy, as it is interpreted, was situated, it is now diffi- 
cult to tell. Jerusalem was well watered. There were 
natural springs and great reservoirs in which water was 
collected, some for bathing and others for "drinking pur- 
poses, for man and beast. All we know of the " Pool 
of Bethesda" is that it was a pool enclosed within five 



2 OO THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

porches, near the sheep market, and presumably close to 
the "sheep gate," or one of the entrances into the city. 
This was the gate through which the sheep and cattle 
for the temple sacrifices were taken. It was most likely 
on the east of the northern side of the city. In the time 
of the crusaders there was a pool in that locality known 
by the name of Stephen's Pool, but it is now filled with 
rubbish. 

At the time of the visit of Jesus there was- a great 
multitude of people afflicted with various diseases — 
blind, halt, withered — on the porches hoping for a cure. 
It was the tradition of the place that when the waters 
were agitated, it was the work of an angel, and that he 
who stepped in first was cured of his malady. Jesus, as 
he walked unattended, found one man who had lain 
there thirty-eight years helpless, it may be, from rheu- 
matism. 

"We can picture to ourselves the scene," says Edersheim. 
" The popular superstition, which gave rise to what we would re- 
gard as a peculiarly painful exhibition of human misery of body 
and soul, is strictly true to the time and the people. Even now 
travelers describe a similar concourse of poor, crippled sufferers, 
on their miserable pallets or on rugs, around the mineral springs 
near Tiberias, rilling, in true Oriental fashion, the air with their 
lamentations. In the present instance there would be even more 
occasion for this than around any ordinary thermal spring, for 
the people's idea was that an angel descended into the water, 
causing it to bubble up, and that only he who first stepped into 
the pool would be cured. As only this one person could obtain 
the benefit, we may imagine the lamentations of the ' many ' 
who would perhaps, day by day, be disappointed in their hopes. 
This bubbling up of the water was, of course, due not to super- 
natural, but to physical causes. Such intermittent springs are 
not uncommon, and to this day the so-called ' Fountain of the 
Virgins' in Jerusalem exhibits the same phenomenon. It is 
scarcely necessary to say that the Gospel narrative does not 






THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 



20I 



ascribe this troubling of the waters ' to angelic ' agency, nor 
concur in the belief that only the first who afterwards entered 
thern could be healed. This was evidently the belief of the im- 
potent man, as of all the waiting multitude. But the words in 
verse 4 of the Authorized Version, and perhaps also the last 
clause of verse 3, are admittedly an interpolation. . . . 
But that such healing might actually occur in the circumstances 
no one would be prepared to deny who has read the accounts of 
pilgrimages to places of miraculous cure, or who considers the 
influences of a firm expectancy on the imagination, especially 
in diseases which have their origin in the nervous system." 

As vain as perhaps were the hopes of the sufferers for 
cure from the waters of Bethesda, there was now one 
present who was able _.. 

to heal; the Great 
Physician of body 
and soul. Jesus had 
compassion, as he *| 
ever has, and said to 
the impotent man, 
"Wilt thou be made 
whole?" "Sir, I 
have no man when 
the water is troubled, 
to put me into the 
pool; but while I am 
coming another step- 
peth down before 
me." Jesus said to him, 
walk." The cure was instantaneous. Immediately the 
man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked, 
and " on the same day was the Sabbath." As the man 
walked away with his bed the Jews said to him, "It is 
not lawful for thee to carry thy bed, it is the Sabbath 
day." 




POOL OF BETHESDA. 



Rise, take up thy bed and 



202 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

They afterward accused Jesus for curing the man on 
the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was an ordinance of mercy, 
intended to protect the poor and the oppressed from a life 
of incessant toil; to save the laboring classes from the 
unjust burdens which would have been laid upon them 
in a nation whose besetting sin was greed. The setting 
apart of one day in seven for sacred rest is of infinite 
value to the spiritual life of men. That is the meaning 
of the fourth commandment. In what respect was it 
violated by the fact that a man who had been healed by 
a miracle wishes to carry home the mere pallet, which 
was probably the only thing he possessed ? It was un- 
lawful, not according to God's law, but according to 
their own interpretation of it and to the traditions of 
the elders. Deeds of necessity and of mercy were always 
lawful, even on the Sabbath day. The man answered 
them, " He who made me whole the same one said unto 
me, Take up thy bed and walk. ' ' The Jews asked the 
man, not, Who healed thee ? but, Who told thee tc take 
up thy bed and walk ? In their zeal to preserve their 
forms and traditions they overlooked the great, confessed 
and wonderful miracle of the Son of God. 

Jesus had quietly gone away as he came, and had dis- 
appeared in the great multitude of people, and the man 
could not point him out, nor did he know who he was. 
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to 
him, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a 
worst thing come unto thee." It seems from these 
words that it was sin that brought this man's infirmity 
upon him, and that Jesus not only cured him, but for- 
gave his sin. Taking offence, it may be at the words of 
our Saviour, the man went and informed the Jews that 
it was Jesus who had made him whole. From that hour 



THE HOUSE OE MERCY. 



203 



the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to slay him, 
because he had performed this miracle on the Sabbath 
day. 

This was the first time that Jesus was called to account 
for his teaching and his works by the Jewish authorities. 
From this time they sought his life and pursued their 
murderous intentions until they nailed him to the cross. 
This was also a turning-point in his public work. 
It was in answer to the charge of breaking the Sabbath 
on this occasion, that the Lord's discourse in John the 
fifth chapter was delivered before the Jewish rulers in 
the temple or council chamber, when they summoned 
him to appear before them. The great rabbis and chief 
priests, who called him to appear before them to rebuke 
him, found that they were in the presence of one who 
was able to expose their ignorance and hypocrisy, and 
before whom they were themselves arraigned, abashed 
and awed. 




WAIXS OF DAMASCUS. 



204 THE SIORY OF JESUS. 



i 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

"my father worketh hitherto." 

John v. 16-47.— Jerusalem, a.d. ,28. 

N the following discourse we find a wonderful revela- 
tion of Jesus, his nature and his work. My Father 
in heaven, the maker and the preserver of the uni- 
verse, replied Jesus to the Jews who accused him of vio- 
lating the Sabbath, works on the Sabbath, and never 
ceases to work, and so I unceasingly work for the salva- 
tion of men. The Sabbath is a rest from secular toil, 
but not from hallowed or sacred labors. In this Jesus 
claims that the works of almighty power, as well as of 
benevolence, are his ; "so I work.' 7 The Jews plainly 
understood the meaning of his words as claiming equality 
with God the Father. So we are told that they "sought 
the more to kill him," because he not only had broken 
the Sabbath, but said, also, that " God was his Father, 
making himself equal with God. ' ' Instead of disowning 
the inference, our Lord accepts it as his meaning. They 
are now filled with indignation, and bring their charges 
against him of blasphemy and of Sabbath-breaking. 

Jesus proceeds still further to declare that he is the 
Son of God, but that he could do nothing of himself, and 
that whatever works the Father perforins the Son does 
likewise. He claims that the Father not only loves the 
Son, but shows him all his works, and though they may 
marvel, yet greater works than those they have seen 
shall he do — even the divine work of raising the dead 
and giving spiritual life to the soul. For as the Father 






MY FATHER WORKETH HITHERTO. 



205 



raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the 
Son quickeneth whom he will. Divine judgment also is 
given to the Son who shall judge all men at the last day. 
The Father has thus honored the Son because he wants 
all men to honor him, and therefore to dishonor the Son 
is to dishonor the Father. To give life and to execute 
judgment belongs to the Son. 

Jesus next declares how he gives spiritual life. Who- 
soever hears his words and believes on the Father who 
sent him "hath everlasting life." "The hour is com- 
ing and now is," he declares, "when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall 
live. ' ' Moreover, those who are in their graves shall 
come forth at his voice, they that have done good unto 
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto 
the resurrection of damnation. As the Father has life in 
himself, so has the Son life in himself, and because he is 
the Son of man, the Father has given him authority 
to execute judgment. My judgment, he says, is just, be- 
cause I seek not my own, but the Father's will. 

' ' The fact of the incarnation is made the reason for com- 
mitting all judgment to Jesus, and especially the final judg- 
ment of the race. Having loved this fallen world so deeply, 
so tenderly, that he could consent to assume our very 
nature and suffer in it even unto death ; who, throughout 
all the universe, will ever doubt his compassion, his pity, 
his heart to save whosoever will meet his revealed condi- 
tions and put himself within the possible reach of mercy. 
With infinite confidence will all the intelligent universe 
trust him forever to administer the final judgment in the 
truest sympathy for our race, and never with undue se- 
verity inflicting even one pang of suffering in excess of 
what justice must demand." 



206 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Jesus proceeds to give additional proofs of his divine 
Sonship. If he were his own witness, merely, then they 
might not accept his testimony concerning himself, but 
there was another true witness to him — John the Baptist. 
This he says that they may believe and be saved, not 
that the testimony of man is needed by him. "John 
was a burning and shining light, and ye were willing for 
a season to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater 
witness than John — even the works that God the Father 
has given me to finish ; and, more than this, the Father 
himself also bears witness that he sent me." "You 
have not seen nor heard him," Jesus says to the Jews ; 
' ' you have not his word abiding in you, for you believe 
not me whom he sent. ' ' Then he appeals to the scriptures 
as proof : ( ' Search the scriptures, for in them ye think 
ye have eternal life ; and they are they which testify of 
me." 

Having added proof upon proof, he charges them 
with the guilt of rejecting him : "Ye will not come to 
me that ye might have life." He tells them* that he re- 
ceives not honor from men — that he knows that the love 
of God is not in them. He has come in his Father's 
name and they receive him not. If another shall come, 
as did many false Christs, in his own name, they would 
receive him. They believe not because they seek honor 
one from another, and not from God. It is not necessary 
for him to accuse them to God, for Moses, whom .they 
trust, will be their accuser. If they had truly believed 
Moses they would have believed him, because Moses 
wrote of him. But as they believed not his works, how 
could they believe his words ? After uttering these plain 
truths, which aroused the murderous hatred of the Jews, 
it was not possible for Jesus to remain in Jerusalem or 
Judea, so he returns to Galilee to resume his work there. 



EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH. 



207 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH DAY. 

Matt. xii. 1-14 ; Mark ii. 23-28, iii. 1-6; Luke vi. 1-11. — On the way to Galilee, 
and in Galilee, a.d. 28. 

AS we have seen, it was the time of the Passover 
and of barley harvest, in the month Nisan. The 
first early sheaf was offered on the second day of 
the Passover. Jesns soon after returned to Galilee. On 
his way there it was again the Sabbath day. The hungry 
disciples plucked the ripe barley heads and, rubbing 
them in their hands, ate the grain thus separated from 
the chaff. It was customary and lawful for the hungry 
poor to pluck and eat grain and fruits growing in the 
fields and vineyards, but they were forbidden to carry 
any away. 

The Pharisees who had before accused him of vio- 
lating the Sabbath in curing the impotent man at the 
pool of Bethesda, were watching him and found fault 
again, not at what the disciples did, but because they 
did it on the Sabbath. We are told by Mark that it was 
the second Sabbath after the first, or the Sabbath suc- 
ceeding that on which the impotent man was cured. 
The question between the Jews and Jesus was not as to 
the observance of the Sabbath, but as to its proper 
observance. What God required on that da}' was quite 
different from what the Jewish teachers commanded. 
Jesus refused to submit to the foolish laws and doctrines 
of men when contrary to right. He was himself the 
law-giver, and claimed the right to enforce the p roper 



208 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

observance of the day. The Pharisees who before 
denied his right to cure a helpless man on the Sabbath, 
now object to his disciples satisfying their hunger on 
that day. 

"No feature of the Jewish system was so marked as 
the extraordinary strictness of the outward observance 
of the Sabbath, as a day of entire rest. The scribes had 
elaborated from the command of Moses a long array of 
prohibitions and injunctions covering the whole range of 
social, individual and public life, and carried it to the 
extreme of ridiculous caricature. To kindle or to 
extinguish a fire on the Sabbath was a great desecration 
of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate 
rabbinical rules. It was forbidden to give an emetic on 
the Sabbath, to set a broken bone, or put back a dislo- 
cated joint ; though some rabbis, more liberal, held that 
whatsoever endangered life made the Sabbath law void ; 
for the commands are given to Israel only that they 
might live by them. 

' ' The holy day began with sunset on Friday and 
closed with sunset on Saturday. But as the disappear- 
ance of the sun was the only mark of the time, its com- 
mencement was different on a hill-top and in a valley. 
If it were cloudy, the hens going to roost was the signal. 
The beginning and the close of the Sabbath was an- 
nounced by a trumpet from the temple and in different 
towns. . . . From the decline of the sun on Friday to 
its setting was Sabbath eve, and no work which would 
continue into the hours of Sabbath could be done in this 
interval. All food must be prepared, all vessels washed, 
and all lights kindled before sunset. The money girdle 
must be taken off and all tools laid aside. On Friday, 
none must go out of the house with a needle or a pen, 



EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH. 209 

lest he forget to lay them aside before the Sabbath 
opens." The Sabbath was believed to prevail through- 
out the universe, in heaven and even in hell, where the 
lost rested from their torments during its sacred hours. 

Many were the refined distinctions made, and the 
strictness was so excessive that Pharisees and Sadducees 
alike sought to escape the requirements by evasions. A 
Sabbath day's journey was 2,000 cubits from a town or a 
city. Food could be carried on Friday evening to a dis- 
tance beyond the walls, and it be assumed by fiction that 
their homes were there, and they start from that spot in 
the morning of the Sabbath. To make it lawful to eat 
together on the Sabbath the rabbis put chains across the 
two ends of a street in which members of a special fra- 
ternity lived, and called it a single dwelling ; they then 
carried the materials for their feast to the common hall 
on the Sabbath, but they each took some food there on 
Friday evening to create the fiction of its being the 
common dwelling. 

These scribes and Pharisees were severe with others, 
but heedless violators of the law themselves. The disci- 
ples of Jesus were accused by the Pharisees of violating 
the law regarding the Sabbath. Was it not unlawful to 
pluck and prepare food on that sacred day? Was it 
not better to hunger for a few hours than to incur the 
penalty of stoning? Thousands of Jews had died rather 
than defend themselves on that day. But the Lord 
asked them whether they had not read of how David and 
his young men, when fleeing from the fierce anger of 
King Saul, and being hungry, went into the tabernacle 
and asked and obtained of Abimelech, the priest, the 
show bread, which it was not lawful for any but the 
priests to eat, and both ate it himself and gave to his fol- 



2io THE STORY OF JESUS. 

lowers. Necessity justified what David did. Then he 
reminds them that they have read in the law of Moses 
how the priests in the temple were engaged, contrary to 
the laws respecting the Sabbath, in sacrificing and per- 
forming all the labors connected with the temple service 
on that day, and yet were excused for profaning the Sab- 
bath and held blameless. 

Our Saviour claims to be Lord even of the Sab- 
bath day, and asserts his authority to make laws for its 
observance. But I say unto you, that in this place is 
one greater than the temple. What is lawful for the ser- 
vants of the temple, is lawful for my servants, for I am 
greater than the temple. Besides, he reminds them that 
it is written: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice; " the 
meaning of which they did not seem to comprehend. 
They were unmerciful in exacting obedience to Sabbath 
laws, and thought more of the ceremonial observance 
than of the spirit of the law. The Sabbath was made 
for man and not man for the Sabbath; " that is for man's 
benefit, his best and highest good; to promote his happi- 
ness and not his misery ; " it was a day of sacred rest, and 
acts of worship and necessity and mercy were not only 
permitted, but obligatory. 

Jesus finally reaches Galilee, and there, "on another 
Sabbath," entered into a synagogue. There was a 
man in the synagogue who had a withered hand, and the 
Pharisees watched Jesus to see whether he would heal 
him on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him. Jesus 
said to the man, u Rise up, and stand in the midst." It 
must have been very difficult for this man to stand up 
while others sat down, before all those scoffing Pharisees, 
but he obeyed. While he stood, Jesus, who knew the 
thoughts of these Pharisees, asked them, u Is it lawful to 



EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH. 21 1 

do good, or to do evil on the Sabbath day ? to save life, or 
to destroy ? " "If any one of you have one sheep, and 
it falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lift it 
out ? How much better then is a man than a sheep ? 
Wherefore it is lawful for a man to do good on the Sab- 
bath day." They held their peace. All this time the 
man had been standing up before all in the synagogue. 
Now the Lord looked around about on the fault-finding 
Pharisees with anger, being grieved at the hardness of 
their hearts, and then said to the man, ( ' Stretch forth 
thy hand." The man might have said, " My hand is 
withered and helpless, and I cannot stretch it forth," but 
he simply obeyed and stretched forth his hand before 
them all, and it was restored whole as the other. The 
effect upon the Pharisees was to make them angry — 
"they were filled with madness" — and went out and 
took council, with the Herodians, or followers of Herod, 
against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus 
knew it and withdrew from the place. 




TARSUS. 



212 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 

Matt. xii. 15-21; Mark iii. 7-19; Luke vi. 12-16 — Sea of Galilee, Mountain near 
Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

TO escape the plots of the Pharisees, Jesus, accom- 
panied by his disciples, retired to the Sea of Gal- 
ilee. But he could not get away from the peo- 
ple, who, from one end of the land to the other, had 
__ _ , heard of his wonder- 

JH^^=~^ -^_^ ftil deeds. Great mul- 

-J — ? : -;" 1 7 ;i;-Ac*^ "^s^ titudes came and fol- 
lowed him, from Gal- 
ilee, from Judea, from 
Jerusalem, from Idu- 
mea, a country lying 
east* of the Dead Sea, 
from beyond the river 
Jordan, and from 
Tyre and Sidon, cities 
on the Mediterranean 
coast. The multitude 
pressed him, and as 
many as had plagues 
sought to touch him, and he healed them all. Unclean 
spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and 
cried out, saying, " Thou art the Son of God." And he 
charged them not to make him known that the scriptures 
might be fulfilled as spoken by the prophet Isaiah : 

11 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen ; 

11 My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased ; 




RUINS OF TYRE. 






THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 213 

" I will put my spirit upon him, 

" And he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. 

" He shall not strive, nor cry ; 

11 Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. 

" A bruised reed shall he not break, 

" And smoking flax shall he not quench, 

" Till he send forth judgment unto victory. 

"And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." 

These words were quoted to show why he thus retired 
from his enemies and sought concealment. 

Sitting in a boat with some of his disciples, Jesus 
asks them to push off from the shore. He proposes to 
depart from the throng of people whom, having blessed, 
he now wants to leave for other work. We do not know 
where he landed from the boat, but we learn that he 
went up into a mountain, as was his custom, and spent 
the night in prayer. He was about to select from his 
disciples twelve men to become his apostles, and he 
prayed thus alone — before he made the choice. And 
when the day came he called to him a few chosen ones, 
— "whom he would," — and from these he selected and 
"ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and 
that he might send them forth to preach, and to have 
power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons." 
These twelve he also named "apostles." The word 
apostle means ' ' one sent. ' ' The names of the twelve 
apostles were Simon and Andrew, James and John, 
Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James 
son of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes, Judas, brother of 
James, and Judas Iscariot. 

Simon Peter, also called Cephas, which means rock, 
was undoubtedly the foremost of the apostles. He de- 
nied his Lord when the latter was arrested, but repented 
and ever afterward was a true and faithful defender of 



214 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

his cause. His great resoluteness and rocky firmness of 
character fitted him to be a leader. u Before the 
Saviour's death he was rash, impetuous and unstable ; 
afterwards, as all history affirms, he was firm, zealous, 
steadfast and immovable." He was the author of the 
epistles that bear his name, the first to testify to the 
people of the resurrection, and the first to preach the 
gospel with great power and success to Jew and Gentile. 
According to tradition, he was crucified at Rome with 
his head downwards, thinking himself unworthy to die 
as his Master died. 

Andrew was the brother of Peter, and had the honor 
of bringing his distinguished brother to Christ. He is 
little known, and the scriptures are silent regarding his 
life and work as an apostle. But he is regarded as the 
patron saint of the Russians because of a tradition that 
says he preached and labored among the Scythians. 
Another legend says that he labored in Greece and Asia 
Minor and Thrace, and was put to death in Achaia on a 
cross of the form, since known by his name. 

James and John were the sons of Zebedee, or Zabdai. 
Their energy and zeal obtained for them, from the Mas- 
ter, the name of "the sons of thunder." It was they 
who wished to call down lightning upon an inhospitable 
Samaritan village,, and sought to silence an unknown 
man who spoke and wrought miracles in the name of 
Christ. James was slain with the sword by Herod in a 
persecution of the early church. He is to be dis- 
tinguished from the other James, who was the son of 
Alpheus or Cleophas, and was stationed at Jerusalem, 
and who was the author of the epistle that bears his name. 
A James is mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Gala- 
tians as the Iyord's brother. Alpheus and Cleophas are 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 215 

the same name written in a different way. Mary, called 
the mother of Zebedee's children (James and John), is 
also spoken of as the mother of James and Joses, or John. 
John was the author of the gospel and epistles that bear 
his name, and also of the Revelation. He was called the 
beloved disciple. His brother, James, was, as we have 
seen, called away early to his reward, but John survived 




PATMOF. 



all the other apostles, living to the advanced age of about 
• one hundred years. "Hot zeal, based on intense devo- 
tion, was, however, only a passing characteristic" of 
these two brothers— "at least of John. He, of all the 
apostles, drank deepest into his Master's spirit, and real- 
ized it most. Self-contained, meditative, tender, he 
thought less of Christ's acts than of the words which 
were the revelation of his inner being. His whole spirit- 
ual nature gave itself up to loving contemplation of the 
wondrous life passing before him. We owe to him in 
his gospel an image of the higher nature of our Lord, 
such as only one to whom he was all in all could have 



2l6 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

painted. If perfect love begets love in return, it was in- 
evitable that John should win the supreme place in 
Christ's affection." "If this disciple leaned on the 
Master' s bosom, it was because he was shown the love 
that at last brought him alone of the twelve to the foot 
of the cross. ' ' 

The sacred writings give us little information about 
Philip. Ecclesiastical legend says that he was a chariot- 
driver. Bartholomew, whose name is associated with 
that of Philip, is said to have been a shepherd or gard- 
ener. He is supposed to be the same as Nathanael, the 
brother of Philip, by whom he was brought to the 
Saviour. Matthew, called also Levi, was a publican, or 
tax-gatherer by profession, and was the writer of the 
gospel which bears his name. Thomas, whose name is 
associated with doubt, but who, when convinced, boldly 
confessed his faith in his divine Lord, is little known. 
James, son of Alpheus, is mentioned, and Simon the 
zealot. The latter was one of the fierce zealots or war 
party of the day, who vowed perpetual war against the 
Roman power. But when Jesus called him he became 
an humble follower of the Prince of Peace. We know 
but little of him. Judas, the brother of James, was also 
known as Lebbeus or Thaddeus, and is to be distinguished 
from Judas Iscariot who betrayed his Lord. 

The choice of men of obscure and humble position for 
such exalted work is remarkable. No mere human re- 
former who hoped to do much for the world, and who meant 
that his teachings, disciples and society should cover the 
whole earth, would have chosen such followers. All of 
these disciples were obscure and unlettered men, and 
most of them are but very little known now beyond their 
mere names, and yet their work remains, and is indeed 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 



217 



immortal in its results. As men chosen and qualified of 
God, they went forth to their work and sealed their tes- 
timony with their blood. A small body of obscure men, 
they became the illustrious heads of the twelve tribes of 
the spiritual Israel and the representatives in earth and 
heaven of the redeemed of every tribe and nation of the 
earth. 




EPHESUS. 



IO 



2l8 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

the: sermon on the plain. 

IVuke vi. 17-49.— Near Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

THERE are some who regard the words spoken as 
recorded here, the same as the Sermon on the 
Mount, recorded by Matthew and Mark, because 
of the similarity between them. But it is distinctly said 
that what Matthew and Mark recorded was spoken some 
time before and on the mountain, while what L,uke relates 
happened in the plain after the selection of the twelve, and 
after the Lord with his disciples and his newly chosen 
apostles had descended the mountain into the plain. ' 'And 
he came down with them and stood in the plain." Be- 
sides, it is not improbable that the same words and simi- 
lar deeds were repeated by our Saviour at different times 
and on separate occasions. There were two miraculous 
draughts of fishes on two different occasions. Jesus twice 
drove the traders from the temple. And it seems that 
on two separate occasions he uttered substantially the 
words known as the Sermon on the Mount. 

In addition to the company of his disciples ' ' there 
was a great multitude of people out of all Judea and 
Jerusalem, and from the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon, 
who came to hear him, and to be healed of their dis- 
eases. They that were possessed with unclean spirits 
were healed, and the whole company sought to touch 
him: for there went virtue out of him and healed them 
all," "and he lifted up his eyes on his disciple c and 
said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of 



THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN. 219 

God. ' ' Continuing his discourse he pronounced a bless- 
ing on the hungry, who shall be filled; on those that 
weep, for they shall laugh; on those that are hated, 
cast out, treated as evil, for Christ's sake, for their re- 
ward shall be great in heaven. In their sufferings they 
would be the companions of the persecuted prophets of 
old. 

Following the blessings, he pronounces the woes re- 
corded by Luke alone. A woe belongs to the rich, who 
have their only consolation in this life; to those who are 
full of earthly things, for they shall hunger; to those who 
laugh with levity, for they shall have cause to weep and 
mourn; to those who obtain the approbation of all men, 
for so were the false prophets applauded. These woes 
were followed by the commands: love your enemies, do 
good to those who hate you, bless those that curse you, 
pray for those that despite fully use you, turn the other 
cheek to him that smites you, give up your cloak rather 
than retaliate; give to every one that asketh of thee and 
of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again, 
and lend or give to the needy. 

This is the general rule. It is better to give, some- 
times to an undeserving person, than to turn away one 
really necessitous. Yet indiscriminate giving is a great 
evil. It is good to cultivate the habit of giving. At 
the same time the rule must be interpreted so as to be 
consistent with our duty to our families, and with other 
objects of justice and charity. It is seldom, perhaps 
never, good to give to those who are able to work, but 
will not. To give to such is to encourage laziness; to 
support the idle at the expense of the industrious. 

The golden rule is here repeated, and we are again 
commanded to love our enemies, to assist others without 



220 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

hope of reward, to be merciful, to condemn not unjustly, 
to be forgiving, to give good measure, so that we may 
be " the children of the highest." 

In continuing his discourse he asks the question, 
" Can the blind lead the blind ? Shall not both fall into 
the ditch?" He reminds them that "the disciple is 
not above his Master," that is, does not know more, 
cannot lead and instruct him; he who is perfect is able 
to teach others. u Why beholdest thou the mote that is 
in thy brother's eye, and perceivest not the beam that 
is in thine own eye ? " You are not to attempt to teach 
others while your faults are greater than theirs. ' ' Thou 
hypocrite : cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, 
and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that 
is in thy brother's eye." "For," continued the Sav- 
iour, u a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit." 
Every tree is known by its fruit. Figs do not grow on 
thorns, and grapes are not gathered from a bramble 
bush. A good man will bring forth good things out of 
the good treasure of his heart, and an evil man with an 
evil heart will produce evil things; "for out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 

Jesus concluded his sermon by asking the question, why 
they called him Lord and did not obey him ? He then 
proceeded to show the contrast between the safety of one 
who came to him and obeyed his commands and the in- 
security of the man who heard his teachings and did not 
obey: the disobedient man is like one who builds his 
house on the sand to be swept away by flood and storm ; 
but he who hears and obeys is like a man who builds his 
house upon the rock, where it stands unmoved by the 
violence of the storm. 



THE CEN1VRI0ITS SERVANT. 221 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 

Matt. viii. 5-13; Luke vii. 1-10.— Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

"T ~X THEN Jesus had ended his sermon he entered 
V V Capernaum again. Here was a centurion, 
connected probably with the Roman garrison 
at Capernaum, and the captain of a company of one 
hundred Roman soldiers. The Roman army was di- 
vided into legions, varying in size from three thousand to 
six thousand men, and in each legion there were sixty 
centuries, each under the command of a centurion. 
This centurion's servant was sick with the palsy. It 
must have been a sudden, painful and alarming attack, 
judging from what was done to obtain relief for him. 
The centurion, hearing that Jesus was in the city, sent 
the elders of the Jews to beg him to cure his servant. 
He sent the Jews because he was himself a Gentile, and 
yet had made friends of the Jews at Capernaum by his 
kindness and liberality towards them. So the elders be- 
sought Jesus to come to the man's house and heal his 
servant, saying, ' * He is worthy, for he loves our nation, 
and has built us a synagogue. ' ' 

This Roman soldier's conduct and the regard the Jews 
had for him who had military authority over them, shows 
how even those naturally the greatest foes may be the 
warmest friends. It is probable that this soldier's mild mili- 
tary rule had gained him the friendship of these bigoted 
Jews, who became still more his friend when he erected, 
at his own expense, a costly synagogue for their use in the 



222 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

city. He who builds a house of worship for others does a 
good work. Jesus went with them, but while on the way, 
not far from the house, the centurion sent him word, 
saying that he, a Gentile and a sinner, did not feel 
worthy to have such a noble and powerful person enter 
his house, nor did he feel worthy to come to meet him, 
but if he would only speak the word his servant would 
be healed. 

It is probable that while these friends were delivering 
the message to Jesus that the centurion, anxious for the 
recovery of his servant, came himself and said, u Lord, 
I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my 
roof ; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be 
healed. For I am a man under authority, having sol- 
diers under me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth, 
and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my ser- 
vant, Do this, and he doeth it." That is, I have sol- 
diers over me, whom I obey, and soldiers under me, 
who obey me. One word of my command is enough. 
You have none over you, but all under you, and you can 
speak to the storm, or to the sea, or to the dead, and be 
obeyed. You need but say the word, and my servant 
shall be cured. Jesus at once recognizes the marvelous 
faith displayed in the words of this man ; and his confi- 
dence that Jesus has power over disease and death, and 
love and sympathy to exercise that power for his sick 
slave. When Jesus heard the centurion's words he said 
to those that followed him, "Truly I have not found so 
great faith ; no, not in Israel." 

This centurion was probably the first Gentile convert 
to Christianity, and his case is an early illustration of 
what was more clearly understood afterwards, that the 
heathen Gentiles were to be brought to the Saviour. 



THE CENTURION'S SER VANT. 223 

This is indicated in the words of Jesus uttered also on 
this occasion : ' ' Many shall come from the east and the 
west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; but the children of 
the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness ; there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." By these 
words he meant that the despised heathen Gentiles 
would come from the whole earth to him and enter his 
kingdom and enjoy the eternal rest of heaven, along 
with the fathers of the Jewish nation, while they, the 
children of the faith, to whom the promises were made, 
would for their rejection of him be cast out forever into 
the darkness and misery of the hopelessly lost. To the 
centurion he says, ' ' Go thy way, and as thou hast be- 
lieved so be it done unto thee." " And his servant was 
healed in the self same hour. " And when he returned to 
his home his faith must have been greatly strengthened 
when his beloved slave came to meet him sound and 
well. 

Says Dr. W. Adams : 

"There is here no analysis of faith, and no definition of it. 
It seems to be assumed by Christ and his evangelists that all 
would understand what faith is. The thing is enacted, not de- 
scribed. Men do in regard to Christ almost everything in the 
range of possibility ; philosophize about him, study about him, 
reason about him, everything save trusting him, — trusting, I 
mean, after the simple method which impelled this centurion to 
implore his help. Trust is at once the most active and most quiet 
of all qualities. What the centurion had not, we have : the pos- 
itive assurance and promise of the Redeemer. This has been 
verified by ages of human experience. Every man who has died 
in peace, looking unto Jesus, is an irrefutable argument for the 
wisdom of faith. The simpler our trust in Christ for all things, 
the surer is our peace." 



224 THE ST0R Y 0F JESUS. 



CHAPTER XIvI. 

THE WIDOW'S SON. 
IvUke vii. 11-17 — Nain, Galilee, a.d. 28. 

NAIN is a town in Galilee. The name means "the 
beautiful." It is hardly entitled to the name 
now, though it is still called Nain. It is a miserable 
village inhabited by Jews, Mohammedans and Christians. 
It is stiil beautiful for its surroundings, situated twenty- 
five miles southwest of Capernaum, on the northern 
slope of "Little Hermon," a clump of hills at the eastern 
end of the great plain of Esdraelon. The village of 
Shunem, now Solani, where the Shunamite woman 
lived, who entertained Elisha in her hospitable home, 
and whose only son the prophet restored to life, is situa- 
ted on the other side of the same hill on which Nain 
stands, overlooking the plain of Jezreel, the scene of 
some of the greatest events in Elijah's life. In the 
distant Sarepta, a Phoenician village, he had raised to 
life the widow's son. 

In climbing the rocky ascent which leads to the gate 
of Nain, the traveler of to-day sees the ancient tombs 
hewn in the hills by the roadside. It was doubtless 
toward one of these sepulchres, outside the city walls, 
where it is the wholesome custom of the East to bury 
the dead, that the body of the widow's son was being 
borne when met by the Prince of Life. Jesus had prob- 
ably left Capernaum soon after the healing of the centu- 
rion's servant, and bent his footsteps westward among 
the hills. It was still early in his ministry, and he was 



THE WIDOW'S SON. 



225 



yet popular with the people, and the rulers as yet only 
plotted against him in secret, without a definite plan for 
his destruction. He was consequently followed not only 
by many of his disciples, but by a large company of people. 

Jesus and his disciples were nearing Nain, and slowly 
ascending the slope of the hill to the gate of the city, 
when they met a funeral procession, with all the attend- 
ants of dismal sorrows and mournful lamentations, 
descending the hill and bearing to its last resting-place 
the dead body of a young man, a widow's only son. 
The sympathetic heart of Jesus is touched, and drawing 
nigh he says tenderly to the bereaved widow, ' ' Weep 
not." Then he turned and touched the bier, "or rather 
the open coffin in which the dead youth lay." "It 
must have been a moment of intense and breathless 
expectation. Unbidden, but filled with undefinable awe, 
the bearers of the bier stood still, and through the hearts 
of the silent multitude there thrilled the calm utterance, 
1 Young man, arise ! ' Would that dread monosyllable 
thrill also through the unknown, mysterious solitudes of 
death ? Would it thrill through the impenetrable dark- 
ness of the more than midnight which has ever concealed 
from human vision the world beyond the grave? It 
did. The dead got up and began to speak, and he 
delivered him to his mother ?' ' 

Thus, by the authority of Christ was the dead brought 
back to life, and the grave robbed of its victim. Then there 
came a fear upon them all — an awful solemnity at the pre- 
sence of one who was able to raise the dead, and they glo- 
rified God. And as they thought of the weeping mothers 
of Sarepta and Shunem who had in times past received 
their dead restored to life by the prophets of God, they 
exclaimed, "A great prophet is risen up among us," 



226 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

It must have been observed by the people that this 
prophet had not raised the dead to life by ' ' agonies and 
energies of supplication, wrestling in prayer and lying 
outstretched upon the dead," like the prophets of old ; 
but u had wrought this miracle calmly, incidentally, 
instantaneously, in his own name, by his own authority, 
with a single word." Truly God has visited his people. 
i\s the eloquent Massillon said : "Jesus raised the dead 
as he performed the most common actions : he spake as 
a master to those who were sleeping the eternal sleep. 
One feels that he was the Iyord of the dead as well as of 
the living ; never more tranquil than when he wrought 
the mightiest works." 

Dr. H. Bushuell says : 

" The.se mighty works of Jesus, which have been done and duly 
certified, are fit expressions to us of the fact that he can do for us 
all that we want. Doubtless it is a great and difficult thing to 
regenerate a fallen nature ; no person really awake to his mis- 
erable and dreadful bondage ever thought otherwise. But he 
that touched the blind eyes and commanded the leprosy away, he 
that trod the sea, and raised the dead, and burst the bars of death 
himself, can tame the passions, sweeten the bitter afflictions, and 
roll back all the storms of the mind. Assured in this manner by 
his miracles, they become arguments of our sorrow, cast down as 
we are by our guiltiness, ashamed, and weak, and ready to de- 
spair, we can yet venture a hope that our great soul-miracle may 
be done ; that if we can but touch the hem of Christ's garment, 
a virtue will go out of him to heal us. In all dark days and 
darker struggles of the mind, in all outward disasters, and amid 
all storms upon the sea of life, we can yet descry him treading 
the billows, and hear him saying, ' It is I, be not afraid.' And 
lest we should believe the miracle faintly, for there is a busy infi- 
del lurking in our hearts to cheat us of our faith when he cannot 
reason it away, the character of Jesus is ever shining with and 
through them, in clear self- evidence, leaving them never to stand 
as raw wonders only of might, but covering them with glory, as 
tokens of a heavenly love, and acts that only suit the proportions 
of his personal greatness and majesty." 



THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS. 227 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS. 
Matt. xi. 2-19; Luke vii. 18-35. — Galilee, near Naln, a.d. 28. 

JOHN the Baptist, a prisoner in the dungeon of the 
" Black Tower-," or the fortress of Machaerus, 
where he had now lain for about a year, heard of 
"all these things" that Jesus did and taught, through 
his disciples who had access to him. We can readily 
understand how long confinement would w r ork upon the 
spirit even of a strong man like John. It would be 
harder for him to bear confinement, because he had 
always led a free and active life among the wild scenes 
of nature, and was of an ardent and zealous tempera- 
ment. He must have also shared, to some extent, the 
errors of the disciples as to the true character of Christ's 
kingdom. Even the spiritually-minded John found it 
difficult to separate the spiritual from the temporal. 
While he preached preparation of heart as an essential 
requirement, he must also have thought of the Messiah's 
kingdom as temporal, and conceived of the Messiah as 
uniting in one both the spiritual and the temporal. 
Hearing of the mighty works of Jesus, he probably asked 
himself, Why did he leave this region when he heard of 
my imprisonment ? Why does he not come and release 
his forerunner by a mighty exhibition of his power? 
Why does he not visit upon his enemies the vengeance 
of heaven ? Why this seeming neglect not only by the 
God ot love, but by the Son of God ? John must have 
been more than human if he did not have some such 
doubts, 



228 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

1 ' Josephus tells us that this prison was the fortress of Machaenis 
or Makhor, a strong and gloomy castle, built by Alexander Jan- 
naeus, and strengthened by Herod the Great. Its location was on 
the borders of the desert, to the north of the Dead Sea, and on the 
frontiers of Arabia. We know enough of solitary castles and 
eastern dungeons to realize what horrors must have been in- 
volved for any man in such an imprisonment, what possibilities 
of agonizing torture, what daily risk of a violent and unknown 
death. How often in the world's history have the most generous 
and dauntless spirits been crushed and effeminated by such hope- 
less captivity. 

" To John the Baptist imprisonment must have been a deadlier 
thing than even to Luther ; for in the free, wild life of the hermit 
he had lived in constant communion with the sights and sounds 
of nature ; had breathed with delight and liberty the winds of 
the wilderness, and gazed with a sense of companionship on the 
large stars which beam from the clear vault of the eastern night. 
To a child of freedom and passion, to a rugged, passionate, 
untamed spirit, like that of John, a prison was worse than 
death. We cannot wonder if the eye of the caged eagle began 
to film." 

It was under these circumstances that John sent two 
of his disciples who came to inquire about the wonders 
of word and deed of the Nazarene. Coming to Jesus, 
they asked him, "Art thou he that should come? Or 
look we for another ? ' ' John had the evidences of the 
Messiahship of Jesus at the time of his baptism, and 
bore unqualified testimony then ; but now, either to sat- 
isfy himself or his doubting disciples, he desires some 
additional testimony. At first the Saviour made no 
reply to their question, but welcomed them and retained 
them, while he went on with his work, that they might be 
able to see for themselves and report the work of Jesus 
to their master. In their presence, ' ' in that same hour, he 
cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil 
spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight." 




(229) 



230 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Then Jesus answered them, and said, "Go your way, 
and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how 
the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the 
deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is 
preached ; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be of- 
fended in me. ' ' These were strong proofs of his Mes- 
siahship, and must have relieved the doubts of these dis- 
ciples of John. To their master, John himself, they 
must have been especially reassuring, since they are the 
words of Isaiah, whom John was fond of quoting, re- 
garding the Christ. And these last words must have 
been the Lord's special message of comfort to his af- 
flicted servant : " Happy is he who shall not make my 
teaching and life a stumbling-stone over which to fall." 

When the disciples of John had departed Jesus deliv- 
ered to the multitudes his well-known eulogy on the 
Baptist, and rebuked the nation for rejecting him. 
1 ' What went ye out into the wilderness to see ? A reed 
shaken with the wind ? But what went ye out for to 
see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold they that 
wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went 
ye out to see ? A prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and 
more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, 
4 Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which 
shall prepare thy way before thee.' Verily, I say unto 
you, among them that are born of woman, there has not 
arisen a greater than John the Baptist. ' ' Jesus goes on 
to say, however, that the least under the new dispensa- 
tion, in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than this last 
of the prophets of the old dispensation, — greater at 
least in the spiritual privileges enjoyed and the opportu- 
nities for light and growth. • ' From the days of John 
the Baptist," he continues, "until now, the kingdom of 



THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS. 23 1 

heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by 
force." That is, from the time John began to preach, 
people had pressed with holy violence into the kingdom, 
and others had been equally determined to destroy it ; 
but the persistent had been the victors. ' ' And if ye 
will receive it, this is Elias which was to come." John 
came in the power and the spirit of Elijah, one of the 
greatest prophets. 

There were present some publicans, who had been 
baptized by John, and they gladly approved all that 
Jesus said of him. But there were also Pharisees and 
lawyers who stood by, who had been refused baptism by 
John, having " rejected the counsel of God against them- 
selves." It is probable that Jesus included these in his 
rebuke when he likened the generation in which he 
lived to children playing in the market-place, or rather 
to the peevish and fretful ones who stood aloof and re- 
fused to play whether their companions proposed to play 
the mournful funeral or the joyous wedding. John had 
come to them as an abstaining hermit, or stern ascetic, 
and they said he had a devil. Jesus had come to them, 
joining in their banquets and wedding feasts, and they 
said, ' ' Behold an eater and a wine drinker. " " But 
wisdom is justified of her children ; ' ' wisdom will pre- 
serve the wise, and folly will be the destruction of fools. 
The folly of the age is about to display its true character 
in the rejection of both John and Christ. 



232 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



T 



CHAPTER XIvIII. 

THE DOOMED CITIES. 
Matt. xi. 20-30.— Nain, Galilee, a.d. 28. 

HE ill success of his mission to the cities on the 
western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and their re- 
jection of him, led Jesus to reprove these cities 
and to pronounce a heavy judgment upon them. ' ' Then 
began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his 
mighty works were done, because they repented not." 
u Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! 
for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had 
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented 
long ago in sack-cloth and ashes. ' ' These towns were 
not far from Capernaum, on the banks of the Sea of 
Galilee, whose precise situation is unknown. Bethsaida, 
meaning fish-house, is a name which was given to two 
different towns, — one on the north coast near the entrance 
of the Jordan into the sea, the other, which is referred 
to here, was on the western shore of the sea, and was the 
home of Philip and Andrew and Peter. " Chorazin, not 
otherwise mentioned in the gospels, Jerome places two 
miles from Capernaum." It is now supposed to be the 
modern Kerazeh, at which place there is a " spring with 
an insignificant ruin about it." The word is thought to 
mean water jars. If those towns were near Capernaum 
we may well imagine that many of the mighty words 
and works of Jesus were performed there, as is here said 
to be the case, though they are not elsewhere mentioned. 
The principle upon which Jesus here pronounces judg- 



THE DOOMED CITIES. 233 

ment against these cities is that greater privileges despised 
or neglected incur greater guilt. 

Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities, situated on the 
Mediterranean Sea. They were very ancient cities, 
formerly of large population and great mercantile im- 
portance. Sidon was situated within the bounds of 
the tribe of Asher, but this tribe could never take 
possession of it. It was famous for its great trade and 
navigation, and its inhabitants were the first and most 
noted merchants in the world, and were celebrated for 
their energy. At the time of our Saviour it was a city 
of much splendor and extensive commerce. It is now 
known as Saide, and has greatly declined from its former 
greatness. In 1824 it had six Mohammedan mosques, a 
Jewish synagogue, a Maronite, a Latin and a Greek 
Church. The number of inhabitants was then estimated 
at three thousand. 

Tyre is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. 
It is the place where Hiram reigned, from whom 
Solomon procured many of his materials for building 
his temple. It is about twenty miles south of Sidon, 
and is situated partly on an island a short distance 
from the shore and partly on the main land. It was 
often besieged, once by Shalmaneser, for five years. It 
was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of thirteen 
years, when it was destroyed, but was afterwards rebuilt. 
It was taken by Alexander the Great, after a most obsti- 
nate siege of five months. There are now no signs of 
its former glory. It consists of a few miserable huts oc- 
cupied by fishermen. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of 
Ezekiel: "Thou shalt be built no more, though thou 
be sought for, thou shalt never be found again." Some 
of the greatest cities of ancient times are now only a 



234 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 




mass of ruins. What a rebuke to human power and 
glory! What has been may be again, is the lesson that 
comes to the great cities of modern times. 

Jesus reproves the 
^ -WBtjpr^ ^ inhabitants of Chora- 

zin and Bethsaida, 
because they repented 
not when they heard 
his words and saw his 
works and says, if the 
mighty works, which 
were done in your 
cities had been done 
in the heathen cities of 
Tyre and Sidon, they 
would have repented 
long ago in sackcloth 
and ashes; that is, in 
the true Oriental style, — they would have clothed them- 
selves in coarse cloth and thrown ashes upon their heads as 
signs of mourning and in token of sorrow for sin. He 
also tells them that in the day of the great judgment 
their punishment shall be greater and less endurable than 
that which was visited upon the heathen people of Tyre 
and Sidon. 

Then he pronounces the doom of Capernaum, which 
had been exalted as high as heaven by its privileges, 
when he dwelt there and taught; it shall be cast 
down to hell, that is, in contrast with its exaltation; 
to heaven, meant very highly favored; and brought down 
to hell, meant that all its favors should be taken away 
and it should sink very low in degradation. Jesus de- 
clares that as the city had flourished and prospered, so for 



SITE OP BETHSAIDA. 



THE DOOMED CITIES. 



235 



its sin it should become desolate and ruined. To-day it 
is desolation itself. Its site is hardly known, so complete 
has been its destruction. It is supposed to be the ruins 
known as Tell Hum. Sidon still exists, but Caper- 
naum — Christ's " own city " — is a heap of ruins. Jesus 
speaks also of the punishment of Capernaum in the 
future life, for he says that it shall be more tolerable for 
the guilty people of Sodom in the day of judgment than 
for those of Capernaum; because, if Sodom had pos- 
sessed their privileges and seen the mighty works of God 
such as they had witnessed, its wicked people would have 
repented. It is plain from these words of Jesus that the 
judgment of God shall overtake wicked men, cities and 
nations, and that their punishment will be in proportion 
to their privileges. 

At this time Jesus uttered the prayer in which he 
gives thanks to the Father, the Lord of heaven and 
earth, that he had hid these things — the truths concern- 
ing the kingdom — from the wise and prudent — according 
to the world's estimation of wisdom, the men of philoso- 
phy and learning and science, falsely so called ; and had 
revealed them unto babes — to the poor, ignorant, obscure, 
though teachable and humble, such as his disciples were. 
Jesus submitted to the will of the heavenly Father, be- 
cause he knew it to be wise and good. ' ' Even so, 
Father, for so it seems good to thee, " is an all sufficient 
reason for every dispensation of his providence and grace. 

After this prayer of resignation and thankfulness, our 
Saviour declares that all power in the universe has been * 
given to him as mediator for man's salvation; that the 
Father alone fully knows the Son, and that no one can 
know the Father except the Son and they to whom the 
Son shall reveal him. With this declaration of power 



236 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



and authority he gives that most gracious invitation, 
which has ever been a comfort to the weary toiler and the 
sin-sick soul : ' ' Come unto me all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke 
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of 
heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my 
yoke is easy and my burden is light. ' ' How many who 
are toiling for this world and serving sin have found their 
burdens greater than they could bear! and how many 
more have found Christ's burdens light and the rest he 
gives to the soul both sweet and lasting ! 




RUINS OP C^SAREA. 






THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 237 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 

Luke vii. 36-50 ; viii. 1-3.— Probably in the vicinity of Nain, a.d. 28. 

JESUS, as we have seen, dined with Matthew the publi- 
can, when invited, and now he* receives and accepts 
an invitation to dine with a Pharisee. From this 
we conclude that the opposition to Jesus had not yet been 
able to array all the Pharisees against him. Simon, for 
this was his name, seems to have occupied a high 
social position, and to have lived in one of the Gali- 
lean towns, probably not far from Nain. Jesus had not 
hesitated to touch a leper or a dead body, and thus to 
render himself unclean in the eyes of the Pharisee, so 
that this invitation, in the circumstances, was surprising. 
Probably it was curiosity that prompted Simon, for he 
acted in a cold, patronizing manner, and knew not that 
Jesus had condescended to honor him. 

It had formerly been the custom of the Jews to sit at 
meals on mats, with feet crossed, before a low table ; but 
the custom of the Persians and Greeks and Romans of 
reclining on couches, with the head towards the table 
and the feet away from it, had been introduced into Pal- 
estine and was general in the time of Christ. Nicely 
cushioned lounges were arranged on three sides of a 
square, and the guests reclined on these, resting on the 
left arm. The table on one side was open, to afford the 
servants access to it. The place of honor was at the 
upper end on the right side. The couches were so 
arranged that each guest could easily lean on the bosom 



2 3 8 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



of the one behind him. It was the custom to leave the 
sandals outside the door in entering a house, and to go 
in with bare feet. The master of the house welcomed 
his guest with a kiss on the cheek, saying, " The Lord 
be with you." When the guest took his place on the 
couch, a servant brought water and washed and wiped 




RECLINING AT TABLE. 

his feet. The host, or a servant, then anointed the 
head and beard of the guest with fragrant oil, the hair 
being the pride of Orientals. Just before eating, water 
was brought to wash the hands, the guest holding his 
hands over a basin while the servant poured water upon 
them. This was done to secure ceremonial purity, and 
because the fingers were used to eat with, all the guests 
dipping into a common dish. Either religious laws or 
social customs required frequent washings, which were 
regulated with scrupulous exactness by the rabbis. 

While Jesus was eating in this Pharisee's house, a 



THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 239 

woman of the town came in. This was nothing strange, 
for people went in and out of an eastern house at pleas- 
ure and conversed with those within. It was not usual, 
however, for women to be present at such entertainments, 
and this woman violated, at least, this rule of propriety, 
and perhaps another, in that she came in unveiled. She 
was well known. Simon watched her as she silently 
stood behind Jesus weeping in distress and bathing his 
feet with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of her 
head, and then kissed his feet, and anointed them with 
precious ointment from an alabaster box. For a rabbi or 
a prophet to suffer a woman thus to approach him, was 
contrary to all Jewish tradition. Now, when Simon 
saw all this he said within himself, ' ' This man, if he 
were a prophet, would have known who and what man- 
ner of woman this is that touched him : for she is a sin- 
ner. ' ' Simon did not dare to speak out, but Jesus an- 
swering his thoughts said, ' ' Simon, I have somewhat to 
say to thee." Respectfully answering, Simon said, 
'-' Master, say on. ' ' Then Jesus spoke to him this para- 
ble: "There was a certain creditor, who had two debtors: 
the one owed him five hundred pence and the other fifty. 
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave 
them both. Tell me, therefore, which will love him 
most ? ' ' Simon promptly answered ; " I suppose that he 
to whom he forgave the most." Jesus said unto him, 
"Thou hast rightly judged." And turning to the 
woman, but addressing Simon, said: " Seest thou this 
woman? I entered into thy house; thou gavest me no 
water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears 
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou 
gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I 
came, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with 



THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 



2 4 l 



oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman has anointed 
my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto you, her 
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much : 
but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little. ' ' 
And he said to the penitent woman, ' ' Thy sins are for- 
given, thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace." 

Doubtless the rich and proud Pharisees understood and 
felt what Jesus said, but they were still impenitent and 
unforgiving. Once before in the synagogue in Capernaum 
Jesus had been accused of blasphemy because he claimed 
the right to forgive sin: but now they only say con- 
temptuously and aside, ' ' Who is this that forgiveth sin 
also ? ' ' Jesus might have again answered that he not 
only forgives sins but cures diseases also, which is easier 
of the two. 

After this, Jesus with the twelve, made what is known 
as the "second circuit" in Galilee. " He went through- 
out every city and village, preaching and proclaiming the 
glad tidings of the kingdom of God." Besides the 
twelve, there were ( ' certain women, ' ' who had been 
healed of evil spirits and infirmities — Mary, called Mag- 
dalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils, and who 
very unjustly has been taken to be the same woman as 
the sinner who kissed Jesus' feet; and Joanna, the wife 
of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many 
others. These pure and noble women "ministered unto 
him of their substance. ' ' We are told the names of only 
three of the devoted women who thus early espoused the 
cause of Christ. They afterwards became so numerous 
and zealous that Saul, the persecutor, found that the 
only hope he had of suppressing Christianity was by 
subduing the Christian women as well as the men. 
Mary Magdalene received her name from the town of 
11 



242 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



Magdala, near Tiberias, where she lived ; Joanna was the 
wife of the steward of Herod Antipas, whose palace was 
at Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. 
Of Susanna nothing is known, except the name. Be- 
sides these ' ' among the many ' ' were, doubtless, Mary, 
the mother of our Lord ; Mary, the mother of James and 
Joses, and wife of Cleophas; and Salome, the wife of 
Zebedee and mother of James and John. 




TARES OF THE GOSPEI,. 



JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 243 



CHAPTER XLV. 

JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 
Matt. xii. 22-50; Mark iii. 19-35; Luke viii. 19-21.— Probably Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

JESUS had probably returned to Capernaum. Again 
the multitude came together, and, following him 
into "the house," so closely pressed him that he 
and his disciples could not even "eat bread." Then 
they brought to him one blind and dumb and "possessed 
with a demon." Jesus cured him, casting out the de- 
mon, and causing the blind to see and the dumb to 
speak. The people were astonished, and said, ' ' Is not 
this the Son of David ? ' ' The Messiah was to be a de- 
scendant of David, and Isaiah had foretold that he should 
open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the 
deaf. 

When the scribes and Pharisees who had come down 
from Jerusalem heard this they feared that they would 
lose their hold upon the people, and their jealousy and 
hatred were aroused. They could not deny that the 
great threefold miracle had been done by superhuman 
power, and they thought to counteract its effect upon the 
people and destroy the influence of Jesus by ascribing his 
power to the devil ; so they said, ' ' This fellow does not 
cast out demons but by Beelzebub, the prince of de- 
mons." Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, was a Phoenician 
deity, the god of filth, and hence the vilest and worst of 
all heathen idols, who was supposed to inflict diseases on 
mankind, and thus by pre-eminence in abominations de- 
noting the prince of demons. They meant to say that he 



244 THE s T0R Y 0F JESUS. 

was in league with Satan, but had he not repelled Satan 
when he said, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God ? The 
reply of Jesus, who knew their thoughts, was well adapted 
to silence his enemies and put them to shame. 

Calling them to him he said, Every kingdom divided 
against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city 
and house divided against itself shall not stand. And if, 
by the power of Satan, I cast out Satan, then he is fight- 
ing against himself. How shall his kingdom stand ? 
The absurdity of Satan fighting against himself is ap- 
parent, but Jesus was not satisfied with simply showing 
the absurdity of their charge. He went on to show them 
that their charge against him was to i>e applied to them- 
selves. These very rabbis and their disciples, the exor- 
cists, pretended to cast out demons. They used spells 
and magical formulae like the heathen. They laid stress 
on their knowledge of the secret names of God and the 
angels, and uttered ciphers that stood for these, and thus 
set in motion the powers of heaven. 

They had invented the science of the black art, or 
magic, or sorcery. They pretended to have " the power 
to draw the moon from heaven, or to open the abysses of 
earth." By u them miracles could be wrought — the sick 
healed and demons put to flight." How different the 
calm manner of Jesus, when working his mightiest mira- 
cles, from these jugglers ! It was simply by his word of 
command that it was done. There was no mysterious 
sign or word. It was to these pretended miracle-workers 
that Jesus asked the confusing question : If I by Beelze- 
bub cast out demons, by whom do your children — or dis- 
ciples — cast them out? Therefore they shall be your 
judges. For a time they were silenced. " If I cast out 
demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God 



JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 245 

has come to you." These works must be doue either by 
the power of God or of Satan. The works that I do in 
casting out Satan and overthrowing his dominion show 
that the kingdom of God has triumphed. 

Then, with a new illustration, he confutes these Phari- 
sees. You cannot enter a strong man's home and destroy 
his goods unless you first bind the strong man — I have 
bound Satan. There are two and only two parties in the 
universe — he that is not with me is against me, and he 
that gathereth not with me in the harvest field scattereth 
abroad. Satan is opposed to me and I to him. Jesus 
brings a very serious charge against them. They falsely 
accuse him and now he truthfully accuses them. He 
tells them of the unpardonable sin, of which they have 
probably just been guilty — that of ascribing to the power 
of the devil what had been done by the Spirit of God 
working through Jesus. They might sin against the Son 
of man, and scornfully call him a Nazarene, or a car- 
penter, and be forgiven ; but a ' ' wanton and blasphemous 
attack on the divine power and nature of the Holy Spirit 
could not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in that 
which is to come." He who commits it "hath never 
forgiveness," but is guilty of "eternal sin," which from 
its very nature can never be forgiven. 

' ' Be consistent, ' ' adds Jesus ; "a tree is known by its 
fruits." An evil tree cannot bear good fruit. A man in 
league with Satan will not do the works of God. And 
then he cries out to them : " O, generation of vipers !" 
Infusing the deadly poison of your concealed malignity 
into every good thing ; [your hearts are corrupt, and yet 
you deceive with pleasant words. A good man will bring 
good things out of the treasure of his heart, and so an 
evil man will bring evil things, and every idle, vain and 



246 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

wicked word must be accounted for in the day of judg- 
ment, when a man will be condemned or justified for the 
words he has uttered as well as for the deeds he has done. 

The scribes and Pharisees were not easily defeated. 
They remind us again of the temptation in the wilder- 
ness, for- they now desire him to show them a miracle, 
undoubtedly from heaven, to prove his claim to be the 
Messiah, and that his power is of God. u The masses, 
and even their teachers, expected a repetition of all the 
great deeds of Moses and Joshua, to inaugurate the 
coming Messiah. The other claimants did not venture 
to resist the demand. Under the procurator Fabius, a 
certain Theudas drew out the people to the Jordan to see 
Israel walk through, once more on dry ground. Under 
Felix, a prophet promised to throw down the walls of 
Jerusalem, as Joshua did those of Jericho, and gathered 
thirty thousand men on the Mount of Olives to see them 
fall. ... It might have been a temptation to one pos- 
sessing supernatural power, to silence all cavil by a 
miracle of irresistible grandeur. But outward acknowl- 
edgment of his claim was of no worth in a kingdom like 
that of Christ's, resting on love and homage to holiness. " 

He answered them, u An evil and adulterous genera- 
tion" — a people who, as the bride of God, had violated 
their marriage contract with him, would seek a sign, and 
' ' There shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the 
prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three 
nights in the whale's belly : so shall the Son of man be 
three days 'and three nights in the heart of the earth." 
Jesus here predicts plainly his death and burial, and his 
resurrection on the third day ; and this shall be the one 
stupendous proof or sign that he will give them. But 
they will not believe even then. When Jonah was thrown 







RUINS ON TH^ SITE OF NIN3VEH. 



(247) 



248 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

ashore by the great fish, he went to Nineveh, where he 
had been sent, and the people of that great and wicked 
capital of the Assyrian Empire, on the banks of the Ti- 
gris, repented at his preaching, and God spared their 
city for two hundred years. The men of Nineveh will 
rise up and condemn you in the day of judgment be- 
cause a greater than Jonah is here, and his preaching of 
the truths of God has been his best credential and sign, 
and you have refused to repent and believe ; hence a far 
greater punishment awaits you. Likewise the queen of 
Sheba, a city of Arabia, who came a great distance from 
the south to see the glory and hear the wisdom of Solo- 
mon, will rise up in judgment and condemn you, be- 
cause a greater than Solomon is here, for you to behold 
his glory and hear his wisdom, and yet you have not 
seen nor heeded. 

Signs enough they had, — there was no need of a miracle 
to make them believe. Their hearts were corrupt and un- 
der the influence and power of the evil spirit, which they 
had accused him of possessing. Jesus describes their state 
when he says, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a 
man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and 
findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house, 
whence I came out, and when he is come, findeth it 
empty, swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh 
with himself seven other spirits more wicked than him- 
self, and they enter in and dwell there : and the last 
state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall 
it be also unto this wicked generation." 

The friends and relatives of Jesus had heard of all his 
works and teachings, and influenced by the scribes and 
Pharisees, elders and rabbis hostile to him, they had 
come to seek him. They either feared for his safety or 



JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 



2 49 



his sanity, and went " to lay hold on him." They came 
while he was speaking, and could not get near him, or 
even into the house where he was, for the crowd. But 
they sent word for him to come out. When Jesus was 
told that his mother and brothers had come, and were 
without desiring to see him, he asked them all, "Who 
is my mother or my brethren ?' ' and looking upon them 
that sat about him and stretching out his hand towards 
his disciples, he tenderly said, u Behold my mother and 
my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, 
the same is my brother and my sister and my mother." 
The ties of earth must be severed, and the relations of 
earth broken up, but those who are bound to Christ by 
faith and by obedience to the commands of God shall 
constitute with him the family of God in heaven forever. 




MUSTARD PLANT. 



25O THE STORY OF JESUS, 



CHAPTER XlyVI. 

PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 

Matt, xiii 1-53 ; Mark, iv. 1-34 ; Luke viii. 4-18.— Sea of Galilee, probably near 
Capernaum, a.d. 28. 

^ I ^HE Lord seems to have passed through the crowd 
-*- that filled and surrounded the house where he 
was, and to have sought the seaside, where he 
entered a boat and pushed out a little from the shore 
that he might the more readily speak to the gathering 
multitude who stood on the shore. When he had sat 
down in the boat, he spoke to them many things in par- 
ables. 

A parable " is a narrative taken from some fictitious 
or real event in order to illustrate more clearly some truth 
that the speaker wishes to communicate. n Our Saviour 
used parables to illustrate spiritual truth, and he took 
them from the most common things of life and nature, 
and hence they were understood. There was a literal 
side to them and also a spiritual sense. He explains 
some of them himself." Christ's " parables are distin- 
guished above all others for clearness, purity, chasteness, 
intelligibility, importance of instruction and simplicity." 
By them he explains himself, his doctrines, life, design 
in coming, and the claims and nature of his kingdom, 
the sins and perils of the Jewish people, and the hopes 
and destinies of the human race. 

Upon this occasion Jesus delivered the parable of the 
sower. Some have supposed that the parable was sug- 
gested by a busy husbandman on some neighboring hill, 
within sight of the people, who was engaged in sowing 






PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 



2 5i 



the prepared ground with seed, in hope of a coming 
harvest. " A sower went forth to sow ; some seeds fell 
by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them ; 
some fell upon stony places where they had not much 
earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had 
no deepness of earth ; and when the sun was up they 
were scorched ; and because they had no root they with- 
ered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns 
sprung up and choked them ; but others fell into good 
ground, and brought forth fruit — some a hundred-fold, 
some sixty-fold and some thirty-fold. Who hath ears to 
hear let him hear." These last words were a proverbial 
expression, indicating the duty of giving heed to in- 
struction. 

The disciples ask- 
ed him the reason 
for speaking to the 
people in parables. 
Jesus answered that 
he so spoke because 
it was for the disci- 
ples only to under- 
stand some of the 
truths concerning his 
kingdom. Besides, 
Jesus says : "I speak 
to them in parables, ' ' 
because that pro- 
phecy of Isaiah finds fitting application to their case, 
which says : By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not 
understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not per- 
ceive ; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their 
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, 




THE SOWER. 



252 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear 
with their ears and should understand with their heart, 
and should be converted, and I should heal them." 
They could have understood him but they would not, and 
to the spiritual meaning of the parable they gave no 
heed, and indeed this was the result expected by our 
Saviour. To open their eyes at once would have been 
to end his own career, and leave his work of instructing 
his disciples unfinished. These disciples he called blessed, 
because many prophets and righteous men had desired 
to see and hear what it was their privilege to see and to 
hear, but had died without it. They lived in a highly 
favored age because they were permitted to see the Mes- 
siah and to hear his instructions. 

The disciples wanted Jesus to explain to them the 
parable of the sower, which he proceeded to do. The 
seed is the word of God. The sower is the preacher of 
the word. When one hears the word of God and under- 
stands it not then the devil comes and takes away what 
is sown in the human heart ; this is he that receives seed 
by the wayside, or on a heart hard like the foot-beaten 
bridle-path across the plowed field. They who receive 
the seed into stony places, where the great underlying 
rocks are near the surface, and the soil is unable to 
sustain vegetation, are those who hear the word with 
joy and for a while obey it ; but since the earth is not 
deep they take little root, hindered by the hard rock, 
and when tribulation and persecution arise on account 
of the word, they have not strength and principle 
enough to carry them through ; and so they are with- 
ered and destroyed by the scorching sun of adversity. 
He that receives seed among thorns is he who hears 
the word ; and the cares of this life and the pursuit 



PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 253 

of deceitful riches, and the u lust of other things" 
take the attention and time of the soul to the neglect 
of the word which becomes unfruitful from neglect. 
He that receive th seed into good ground is he who, 
like all others, hears the word, but unlike the rest, 
he understands and keeps it and nourishes it faithfully 
in a heart divinely prepared for its reception. The re- 
sult is that the word is fruitful, some seeds bring forth 
a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold. 
In such a heart the gospel takes deep root, and, un- 
encumbered by cares and unchecked by worldly pursuits, 
it grows to perfection, endures to the end, and yields 
its blessed fruit for the sower and the reaper. All may 
not have the power to bring forth the same quantity, 
but all can bear the right kind of fruit. 

Jesus, continuing his instruction, says: "Is a lamp 
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a couch ? 
and not to be set on a lamp stand?" Its design is to 
give light, and so my preaching by parables is not meant 
to obscure the truth, but to explain it. All secret things 
shall yet be made manifest. If any man have ears to 
hear, let him hear, and let him take heed to what he 
hears. The measure of his blessing shall be in propor- 
tion to his faithfulness in the practice of the truth. He 
that does not improve under the word shall be deprived 
of future blessing. 

The Lord on this same occasion relates to them the 
parable of the tares. The gospel resembles, he says, a 
man who sowed good seed in his field, and at night while 
men slept, a revengeful enemy came and scattered tares 
or darnel seed — a valueless kind of weed — all over the 
newly-plowed field, and then went his way, unseen as 
he had come. But when the blade came up and the 



2 54 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



grain appeared then the tares were discovered. The 
servants told the householder, who suspected the cause, 
and asked whether they should pluck out the tares from 
among the wheat. But he answered, No: for fear of 
rooting up the wheat too, but to let them grow till ripe 
for harvest, and then the tares could be separated by the 
reapers from the wheat, and be burned and the wheat be 
gathered into his barn. When the multitude had been 
sent away and Jesus had returned home and was quietly 
seated in the house, he explains this parable to his dis- 
ciples at their request. He that sowed the good seed of 
the word is the Son of man; the field is the world; the 
good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares are 
the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed 
them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; 

the reapers are the 
angels. ' 'As there- 
fore the tares are 
gathered and burn- 
ed in the fire, so 
shall it be in the 
end of this world. 
The Son of man 
shall send forth his 
angels, and shall 
gather out of his 
kingdom all things 
that offend, and 
them which do ini- 
quity ; and shall 
cast them into a 
furnace of fire ; 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then 




SIR, DIDST THOU NOT SOW GOOD SEED? 



PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 



2 55 



shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
of their Father." 

Several other parables were spoken by Jesus as he sat 
in the boat before he dismissed the people. He likened 
the kingdom of God, or the gospel in the soul, to those 
who, sowing the seed in the ground, would leave it there 
to grow in its own time without knowing even how it 
grew ; the earth itself bringeth forth fruit of itself ; 
1 ' First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn 
in the ear," but when the fruit is brought forth, imme- 
diately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is 
come. He also likened the hidden or secret nature of 
the gospel in the heart to a grain of mustard seed ; least 
of all seeds, but when sown in the earth produces in that 
eastern climate a tree, affording a safe place of shelter 
in its foliage, to the birds of the air. It was thus that 
our Saviour illustrated the nature of faith in the progress 
of the church in the earth. In another parable he likens 
the growing or permeating nature of the gospel to the 
small quantity of leaven which a woman puts into three 
measures of meal, which spreads throughout and lightens 
all the meal. " And with many such parables spake he 
the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But 
without a parable spake he not unto them; that it might 
be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I 
will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things 
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the 
world. ' ' 

"When he was alone he expounded all things to his 
disciples. ' ' To them when alone he likened the gospel 
dispensation he came to inaugurate, to treasure hid in a 
field, which, when a man has found, he sells all he has 
and with the money buys the field ; to a merchantman 



2 56 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



seeking pearls, who, when he found one of great price, 
went and sold all he had and bought it ; to a net cast into 
the sea, which gathered into it every kind, and which 
when full was drawn ashore and the good fish preserved 
in vessels and the bad ones thrown away. ' ' So, ' ' says 
he, ' ' shall it be in the end of the world ; the angels shall 
come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, 
and cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wail- 
ing and gnashing of teeth. ' ' Then Jesus asked his dis- 
ciples if they understood these things, and they answered, 
Yes. Finally, he said that every scribe or learner instructed 
in the things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven is like 
a householder who brings out of his treasure things new 
and old. "And it came to pass that when Jesus had 
finished these parables he departed thence. ' ' 




BIND THEM IN BUNDLES. 



THE TEMPEST STILLED. 



257 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE TEMPEST STILLED. 
Matt. viii. 1S-23 ; Mark iv. 35-41 ; I^uke viii. 22-25.— Sea of Galilee, a.d. 28. 

AFTER the events just recorded, Jesus, weary by 
fasting and labor, owing to the exacting demands 
of the great multitudes that crowded around and 
followed him, and part of whom probably were in sym- 
pathy with the persecuting scribes and Pharisees, sought 
rest with his disciples in retirement beyond the sea of 
Galilee. In the evening of the same day he said to 
them, "Let us pass over to the other side of the lake." 
Finally the disciples succeeded in sending away the 
multitude, and then took him, "even as he was," with 
the boat into which they followed him. Yet he could 
not wholly escape from the people, for some also took 
to the little boats and followed him. 

"Jesus," says Farrar, "yearned for the quiet and deserted 
loneliness of the eastern shore. The western shore also is lonely 
now, and the traveler will meet no human being but a few care- 
worn Fellahin, or a Jew from Tiberias, or some Arab fisherman, 
or armed and mounted Sheykh of some tribe of Bedawin, but the 
eastern shore is loneliness itself ; not a tree, or a village, not a 
human being, not a single habitation is visible ; nothing but the 
low range of hills, scarred with rocky fissures and sweeping down 
to a narrow and barren strip which forms the margin of the lake. 
In our Lord's time the contrast of this thinly-inhabited region 
with the busy and populous towns that lay close together in the 
plain of Gennesareth must have been very striking ; and though 
the scattered population of Perea was partly Gentile, we shall 
find him not unfrequently seeking to recover the tone and calm 



258 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

of his burdened soul b}^ putting those six miles of water between 
himself and the crowds that he taught. ' ' 

While they were crossing the lake a great tempest 
suddenly arose ; as Luke says, "There came down a 
great storm of wind upon the lake. ' ' The waves ran 
high and beat into the boat and covered it so that it was 
now full of water and .they were in jeopardy. u The ex- 
pressions used by the evangelists imply the extreme vio- 
lence of the storm. The heated tropical air of the sea 
of Galilee, six hundred feet beneath the level of the 
Mediterranean, is suddenly filled by the cold winds 
sweeping down the snowy ranges of Lebanon and Her- 
mon through the ravines of the Perean hills." 

A traveler thus describes the sea of Galilee in a 
storm : 

11 The whole lake was lashed into fury ; the waves repeatedly 
rolled on to our tent-door, tumbling over the ropes with such vio- 
lence as to carry away the tent pins. And, moreover, these 
winds are not only violent, but they come down suddenly, and 
often when the sky is perfectly clear. Some such sudden wind it 
was, I suppose, that filled the ship with waves ' so that it was 
now full ? ' Small as the lake is, and placid, in general, as a 
molten mirror, I have repeatedly seen it quiver and leap and boil 
like a cauldron, when driven by the fierce winds from the eastern 
mountains, and the waves ran high — high enough to fill or cover 
the ships, as Matthew has it. In the midst of such a squall 
calmly slept the Son of God, in the hinder part of the ship, until 
awakened by the terrified disciples." 

When Jesus entered the boat he doubtless lay down in 
the stern with his head upon the leather pillow of the 
steersman to gain some needed rest. The storm had 
raged till the disciples, now fully aroused to a sense of 
their danger, awakened the Master with the cry of dis- 
tress, " Carest thou not that we perish?" "Lord, save 



THE TEMPEST STILLED. 



259 



us, we perish ! ' ' He calmly arose and rebuked the 
winds and said to the sea, ' ' Peace, be still ; ' ' and there 
was a great calm. "Jesus lying this moment under the 
weakness of exhausted strength, and rising the next in 
the might of manifested omnipotence : in close prox- 
imity, in quick succession, the humanity and the divin- 
ity that were in him exhibited themselves. . . . Sleep- 
ing or waking, let Christ be in the vessel, and it is safe. ' ' 
Turning to the disciples, whose fear of the storm was 
now turned into astonishment and confusion of face be- 
fore him, he said to them, ' ' Why are ye so fearful, how 
is it that ye have no faith? " But speechless and over- 
awed they could but say to one another, ' ' What man- 
ner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey 
him?" 

Canon Farrar says : 

"This is a stupendous miracle, one of those which test 
whether we indeed believe in the credibility of the miraculous or 
not ; one of those miracles of power which cannot, like many of 
the miracles of healing, be explained away by existing laws. 
If we believe that God rules , if we believe that Christ 
rose ; if we have reason to hold among the deepest convictions 
of our being the certainty that God has not delegated his sover- 
eignty or his providence to the final, unintelligent pitiless, inev- 
itable working of natural forces ; if we see on even- page of the 
evangelists the quiet simplicity of truthful and faithful wit- 
nesses ; if we see in every 3'ear of succeeding history, and in 
every experience of individual life, a confirmation of that testi- 
mony which they delivered — then we shall neither clutch at 
rationalistic interpretations, nor be much troubled if others 
adopt them. He who believes, he who knows the efficacy of 
prayer, in what other men may regard as the inevitable certain- 
ties or blindly directed accidents of life ; he who has felt how the 
voice of the Saviour, heard across the long generations, can calm 
wilder storms than ever buffeted into fury the bosom of the in- 
land lake ; he who sees in the person of his Redeemer a fact 



26o 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



more stupendous and more majestic than all those sequences 
which men endow with imaginary omnipotence, and worship 
under the name of law — to him, at least, there will be neither 
difficult} 7 nor hesitation in supposing that Christ on board that 
half wrecked fishing-boat did utter his mandate, and that the 
wind and the sea obeyed ; and that his word was indeed more 
potent among the cosmic forces than miles of agitated water or 
leagues of rushing air." 




STREET CAEEED STRAIGHT- 



THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 26 1 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 

Matt. viii. 28— ix. 1 ; Mark v. -21 ; Luke viii. 26-40.— Probably at Gersa, east 
coast of the Sea of Galilee, a.d. 28. 

DRIVEN by the wind across the water the boat was 
now in the southern part of the lake, opposite 
Tiberias. Here they landed, in what Matthew 
calls "the country of the Gergesenes," and Mark and 
Luke "the country of the Gadarenes." Gadara and 
Gergesa were cities on or near the southeastern shore of 
the sea of Galilee, and Jesus comes into the vicinity of 
both of them. Hence Matthew mentions the one and 
Mark and Luke the other. The whole country was 
called Perea. 

Gadara was situated near the sea, and was one of the 
ten cities that were called collectively Decapolis, which 
was another name given to that country. Gergesa was 
about twelve miles southeast of Gadara, and about twenty 
miles east of the Jordan, where it flows from the sea of 
Galilee. 

"Directly opposite Tiberias there is a large valley, through 
which flows a copious stream of water. After leaving the hills 
and before reaching the lake, it crosses a plain of considerable 
breadth, on which, just south of the stream, and stretching from 
the lake back for some distance towards the hills, are ruins called 
Kersa, or Gersa. ... In this Gersa or Kersa we have a position, 
which fulfills every requirement of the narratives, and with a 
name so near that in Matthew as to make in itself a strong cor- 
roboration of the truth of this identification. It is within a few 
rods of the shore, and an immense mountain rises directly above 



262 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

it, in which are ancient tombs, out of some of which the two 
men possessed of devils may have issued to meet Jesus. The 
lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, rushing 
madly down, could not stop, but would be hurried on into the 
water and drowned. ' ' 

' ' Gadara was a famous fortified city, on the east of the Jordan, on 
the steep edge of the valley of Jarmuk. It was one of the cities 
of the Decapolis, — league of ten cities,— and it was about eight 
miles southeast from Tiberias, across the lake. It was reckoned 
the capital of Perea, and had coins of its own. The great roads 
from Tiberias to Scythopolis passed through it to the interior of 
Perea and to Damascus." 

Geikie says: 

"The boat had been driven to the southern end of the lake, 
and Christ consequently landed in the territory of the city of 
Gadara, a half heathen town on the table land, 1200 feet above 
the shore, and at some distance from it. It was then in its glory, 
and lay round the top of the hill, looking far over the country. 
Long avenues of marble pillars lined the street; fine buildings of 
square stone abounded. Two great amphitheatres of black basalt 
adorned the west and north sides, and there was a third theatre 
near its splendid public baths. It was the proud home of a great 
trading community, to whom life was bright and warm, when 
Jesus landed that morning, on the shore beneath, and looked up 
towards its walls." 

In the hillsides in the vicinity are many caves used by 
the people as burying-places, and "the roadside is strewn 
with a number of sarcophagi of basalt, sculptured with 
low relief of genii, garlands, wreaths of flowers and 
human faces, in good preservation, though long emptied 
of their dead." 

The first object that met our Saviour as he landed 
were two mad men coming out of the tombs in the hills, 
who were possessed with demons. There were two, but 
the account mainly directs our attention to one of them. 
Jesus "was met by an exhibition of human fury, of 



THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 263 

madness and degradation, even more terrible and start- 
ling than the rage of the troubled sea;" and as he 
had calmed the sea, he was soon to calm this troubled 
soul. Here again is renewed the conflict between Christ 
and Satan. ''Was it for the purpose of teaching us 
more manifestly that Jesus came to destroy the works of 
the devil, that in that age of his appearance, demons 
were permitted to exercise such strange dominion over 
men?" This maniac was very violent — "exceeding 
fierce " — a terror to the whole neighborhood, "so that 
no one dared to pass by that way. ' ' Efforts had been 
made to check him, and he had been bound and fettered; 
but with superhuman strength he had broken his fetters 
and twisted off the chains that bound him. Fleeing 
naked from home and city, he had taken up his habita- 
tion among the ghastly dead and dwelt in the polluted 
tombs. 

Ill our day the power of Christ in his people has led 
them to build homes and hospitals in which the insane 
and afflicted may be well cared for, but in ancient times 
it was not so. This poor man, and others like him, 
were permitted to wander about, a menace to them- 
selves and others. Unbound and untamed, shrieking 
and cutting himself with stones, day and night this 
poor demoniac had no rest. When our Saviour and 
his disciples landed, this man approached them run- 
ning, with fierce and terrifying cries, but, strange to 
say, instead of attacking them, he prostrated himself 
before the Lord and worshiped him, saying: "What 
have I to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of the most 
high God ; I adjure thee by God torment me not." 
"Art thou come hither to torment us before our time?" 
For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come 



264 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

out of the man. It is remarkable that persons pos- 
sessed with demons recognized Jesus as the Son of 
God and the Messiah. All such seem to agree that 
Jesus is the Christ. They must have known him by 
preternatural power. 

Jesus was recognized at first sight by Anna the proph- 
etess and the aged Simeon, but both were guided by 
preternatural agency. ' ' What is thy name ? ' ' Jesus 
asked the demoniac. He answered, u My name is 
legion, for we are many." That is because he was 
possessed with many demons. 

These demons besought Jesus not to send them away 
out of the country nor ' ' cast them out into the deep ' ' 
— that is, into the dark abyss of woe prepared for de- 
mons. There was on the mountain-side, a good way off, 
a great herd of two thousand swine feeding, and the de- 
mons asked to be permitted to go into the herd of swine, 
if he cast them out. Jesus gave them leave, and they 
went out of the man and entered into the swine, and 
u behold, the whole herd ran violently down a steep 
place into the sea, and perished in the waters." There 
is one other instance in our Lord's life when he destroyed 
property — when he blighted the barren fig-tree. But it 
is to be remembered that he is the creator and owner 
and law-giver, and that it was against his law that swine 
were kept in that land. There were, no doubt, many 
heathen in Perea who used the swine for sacrifice and for 
food, but we may rely upon it that Jesus did only what 
was right. Has not many a man been cured of some 
less malady at greater cost ? But it was the demons that 
did all the injury to man and beast. Swine were a type 
of uncleanness, and they were the fitting place for the 
unclean spirits debarred from men. Bent on destruction, 



THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 265 

these demons could drive the frenzied swine into the sea, 



and so prejudice the people against Jesus and hinder his 
work. 

The swine-herds, who kept and fed the swine, fled in 
terror, and told in the city and in the country what had 
befallen the possessed of the demons, and what had be- 
come of the swine. And the " whole city" came out to 
meet Jesus and see for themselves what had been done. 
And when they came and found the man, out of whom 
had been cast a legion of demons, sitting at the feet of 
Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind, they were afraid. 
They that saw it told the people how it was all brought 
about, and also concerning the swine. Here we meet 
with a most remarkable incident. When they heard 
what had been done to the swine they prayed him to de- 
part out of their country. In this request the whole 
multitude of people were unanimous. u They were 
taken with great fear." If this great prophet remains he 
might cure more and bless them all, but they fear his 
presence may cause them too great expense and loss. 

Jesus had come across the lake to find rest. He had 
but touched — and touched to bless and save— the oppo- 
site shore from Capernaum, when he is requested to 
leave and begin his weary travels again. Without one 
word of reproach, or one sign of anger, he "went up 
in-to the ship and returned." But before the boat 
could leave the shore the man out of whom he had 
cast the demons begged that he might go with him, 
and be with him. Reasonable as this request seems, 
Jesus did not grant it. Others he had commanded to 
leave all and follow him, but this man he sent away, 
saying, "Return to thine own house and show how 
great things God hath done unto thee." Driven from 
12 



266 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



this needy people, the L,ord remembered them in 
mercy and sent this messenger, the living monument 
of his power and love, to go among the people who 
had rejected his Master and tell them what God had 
done for him. And he departed and published in the 
whole city, and in Decapolis, how great things Jesus 
had done for him. When Jesus returned to the other 
side, at Capernaum, he found great numbers gathered 
who received him gladly. 




QUARKNTANIA. 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 267 



CHAPTER XIvIX. 

THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 

Matt. ix. 35-38, x. 1-42, xi. 1, xiii. 54-58; Mark vi. 1-13 ; I,uke ix. 1-6. — From 
Nazareth through Galilee, a.d. 28 and 29. 

y\ FTER the events recorded in the last chapter, 
■*- ^- Jesus, accompanied by his disciples, went on his 
third general circuit of Galilee. First he came 
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He went 
into the synagogue and taught on the Sabbath day ; and 
again was rejected by the people of that city. His 
former townsmen were astonished when they heard him, 
and said, Where did this man get his wisdom and his 
power to do his mighty work ? Is not this the carpenter, 
the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Simon and 
Juda, and are not his sisters with us ? But his towns- 
men were offended with him. He was not such a Mes- 
siah as they looked for; they thought only of some great 
warrior who would establish a temporal kingdom. But 
Jesus taught humility, self-denial and contempt for 
earthly glory. ' ' What ! Shall we receive as Messiah 
one fitted to wield a saw or hatchet rather than a sceptre? 
Can such a one be the fit person to step into the throne 
of David, to redeem Israel and to cope with the Roman 
power?" "They were offended in him." But Jesus 
replied, "A prophet is not without honor save in his 
own country, and in his own house." 

"And he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and 
healed them, but he did no mighty work there because 
of their unbelief, at which he greatly marveled." From 
this we are to learn that miracles are not to convince the 



268 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

wilful sceptic of his divine authority. If this were so 
he would have done more and not less. They are a seal 
of his divine authority to those who are morally and 
spiritually ready to receive the truth, but need for it some 
external sanction. 

"Leaving Nazareth he went about all Galilee." As 
Home says, ' ' He either teaches, or comforts, or raises 
the dead, or heals, or feeds, or delivers, or departs into a 
mountain to pray, and all for us." He went round 
about among the villages, and taught in the synagogues, 
and preached the gospel of the kingdom, healing every 
sickness and every disease among the people. His sym- 
pathy is evinced in these feeling words, " But when he 
saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on 
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as 
sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he to his dis- 
ciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are 
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he 
may send forth more laborers into his harvest." Jesus 
was a great missionary, and hence all his followers 
must be missionaries, and his church a missionary 
church. 

It was at this time that Jesus instructed his disciples 
and sent them forth, two by two, as laborers in his har- 
vest-field. He also endowed them with miraculous 
power that they might preach the gospel and confirm the 
word with signs. They went forth under his guidance, 
and to him they are to return and report. He who ex- 
ercised these powers himself now gave them power over 
unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner 
of sickness and all manner of diseases, and even to raise 
the dead. They were commanded not to go to the Gen- 
tiles, nor into the city of the Samaritans, but to those 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 269 

who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that is, the 
Jews ; for the reason that the time had not yet come 
for them to go to all nations. " As ye go, preach, say- 
ing, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." That is, the 
time has come for the establishment of the heavenly 
kingdom throughout the earth. 

They were to bestow the blessings of Christ upon 
others as freely as he had given these blessings to them. 
They were to make no provision for their journey, but 
to live by the gospel, because they were laborers in 
God's vineyard, and the laborer is worthy of his hire. 
Therefore they were to take no money in their purses, 
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, — money being made 
from all these metals. They were not to carry even a 
scrip, which was a kind of knapsack to carry provisions 
in. They were not to take two coats nor shoes nor 
staves, but to go expecting to be cared for by the people 
for whom they preached. They were to inquire who 
was worthy, reputable and likely to treat them well in 
every town to which they came, and constantly to make 
their home with such while in that town. In entering 
a house they were to accord to the family all the cus- 
tomary civilities, and not to demand as a right what was 
accorded by favor and courtesy. If you find that family 
worthy, then let your blessing of peace be pronounced 
upon it. But if the family be unworthy, despising your 
message and rejecting you, then withhold the blessing 
intended for the hospitable. If a city or a house shall 
refuse to receive them or to hear their words, they were, 
when they departed, "to shake off the dust of their 
feet." The Jewish teaching was that the dust of the 
Gentiles was impure and was to be shaken off; therefore 
this act was equivalent to treating those who rejected 



2 JO THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

them as impure and therefore Gentiles. Truly I say 
unto you, said Jesus, ' ' It shall be more tolerable for the 
people of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, 
than for that city. ' ' 

He tells them that he sends them forth as sheep among 
wolves, in an unfriendly world ; that they must be on 
their guard against evil disposed men who would deliver 
them tQ councils and scourge them in their synagogues ; 
that they would be brought like criminals before gover- 
nors and kings, for his sake whose they were, to bear 
testimony to the great facts of the gospel before them 
and the Gentiles, and that they should be witnesses 
against them in the day of judgment. They need not 
be anxious about what they shall say, because it will be 
revealed to them by the Spirit of God what to speak. 
Brother shall deliver up brother to death, so bitter will 
be Jew and Gentile opposition to those who embrace the 
gospel. His disciples will be hated by all worldly men 
for his sake, but he that is faithful and endures to the 
end shall be saved. When persecuted in one city they 
shall flee to another ; and before they shall have gone 
over all the cities of Israel, preaching the gospel, the Son 
of man will come in the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
end of the Jewish economy. They, as servants and dis- 
ciples, could expect no better treatment than he their 
Master, whom they had called Beelzebub. They need 
not fear them, however. What is secret shall be 
revealed, and what he had taught them privately they 
were to proclaim publicly. They were not to fear even 
those who would kill the body, for they could not kill 
the soul, but rather to fear him and obey him who was 
able to punish both soul and body eternally in hell. 
They were of more value than the sparrows that were 



THE TWEL VE SENT FORTH. 



271 



killed and sold, not one. of which fell to the ground 
without God's permission. 

He assures us that the very hairs of our head are all 
numbered and cared for by God ; that whosoever shall 
acknowledge the Lord Jesus before men shall be ac- 
knowledged by him before his heavenly Father, but who- 
soever will not confess, but deny Jesus before men, will 
be rejected and disowned before God ; that he came not 
to send ' ' peace on earth ' ' between the wicked and the 
just, between Satan and God, between sin and righteous- 
ness, but a sword of persecution in the hands of the 
wicked to smite the righteous ; and that the foes of the 
peaceful Christian will be found sometimes in the un- 
godly members of his own household. He who will love 
father, mother, son or daughter, more than Christ is 
not worthy of him, and he that will not take up his 
cross and follow him can not be his disciple. The dis- 
ciple who will lose his life for him shall find eternal life. 
He who receives them as his disciples receives him, for 
to receive his prophets as such is to receive a prophet's 
reward, and to receive a righteous man because he is 
righteous is to receive a righteous man's reward. He 
who gives even a cup of cold water to one of the least of 
his disciples for Christ's sake shall receive the blessing 
of heaven. 

The history of the planting of the Christian Church 
by the apostles shows clearly that the Master in these 
instructions has in view, not only the tour upon which 
he is here and now sending his disciples, but also the 
larger work on which they are to enter after his ascen- 
sion. It will be seen that a part of his address refers es- 
pecially to the greater work of their lives, of which this 
was but preparatory. These humble and illiterate fisher- 



272 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

men were destined to fulfil these words of prophecy and 
to stand before kings and speak the truth— God speaking 
in them. All these things were finally fulfilled after 
Jesus left them. ' ' Peter is said to have been brought 
before Nero, John before Domitian, Roman Emperors; 
and others before Parthian, Scythian and Indian Kings. ' ' 
It seems almost beyond belief that Christianity should so 
stir up the evil nature in human beings as to make men 
persecute to death their nearest relatives, simply because 
they had forsaken heathenism or Judaism to become 
Christians, and yet this was too true, as the many un- 
doubted examples of history prove. 

"Nothing else but this dreadful opposition to God and his 
gospel ever has induced, or ever can induce men to violate the 
most tender relations, and consign their best friends to torttire, 
racks and flames. It adds to the horrors of this that those 
who were put to death in persecution were tormented in the most 
awful modes that human ingenuity could devise. They were 
crucified; were thrown into boiling oil; were burnt at the stake; 
were roasted slowly over coals ; were compelled to drink melted 
lead; were torn in pieces by beasts of prey; were covered with 
pitch and set on fire to give light in the gardens of Xero. Yet 
dreadful as this prediction was, it was fulfilled; and incredible 
as it seems, parents and children and husbands and wives were 
found wicked enough to deliver up each other to these cruel 
modes of death on account of their attachment to the gospel. 
Such is the opposition of the heart of man to the gospel." 

" And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of 
commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to 
preach and to teach in their cities." 



THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 2 73 



CHAPTER L. 

THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 

Matt. xiv. 1-12; Mark vi. 14-29; Luke ix. 7-9.— Probably Galilee, and Machaerus 
in Perea, a.d. 29. 

f T had been some time since Herod the tetrarch had 
-*- imprisoned the Baptist. Jesus had taken up the 
work and proclaimed the word and was now proba- 
bly in Galilee. Herod heard of the miracles of Jesus — 
the healing of the lepers, the restoring of sight to the 
blind, the raising from the dead of the son of the widow 
of Nain and the curing of the demoniacs at Gadara ; 
and, filled with all the dread of a guilty conscience, he 
thought it must be John the Baptist, whom he had be- 
headed, who had risen from the dead. 

Herod Antipas, to whom had fallen the tetrarchy of 
Galilee upon the death of his father, Herod the Great, 
was cruel, crafty, weak and selfish, and a slave to 
passion. The place of John's imprisonment was 
Machaerus, the fortress-palace of Herod, situated among 
the wild and rocky fastnesses of Perea beyond the Jordan, 
at the southern extremity of the king's dominion. This 
prison-palace stood high on one of the hills of Mount 
Nebo and overlooked the Dead Sea and the Jordan 
valley. It was inaccessible except on the one side where 
it was approached by a narrow path. On all other sides 
were steep precipices to the valley far below. It looked 
down on a picture of wild desolation that reigned 
around ; and except in the town at the foot of the hill, 
no life or activity was to be found. The ruins of 

12* 



274 rHE STORY OF JESUS. 

the fortress still remain. In one of the dark dungeons 
of its four-cornered towers John was doubtless im- 
prisoned. 

It was customary for the Herodian kings and princes 
to visit Rome often, to pay court on some gala day to 
the Roman emperor, to whom they were indebted for 
their power and dominion. Herod Antipas on one of 
these occasions was the guest of his brother, Herod 
Philip. This was not the tetrarch of that name. Here 
he fell under the seductive power of his brother Philip's 
wife, Herodias, who was ambitious to have for a hus- 
band a king. She was of the Herod family herself. 
The Herods never stopped for any sin or crime when 
they had an object to accomplish ; and hence unlawful 
marriages among themselves were common. Antipas 
was married to the daughter of Aretas, Emir of Arabia, 
but he promised to give up his wife and marry Herodias, 
who left her husband for him. His lawful wife was 
sent first to Machaerus and then to her father, who 
made war upon Herod and punished him by defeat for 
his treachery. Herod was cowardly as well as wicked. 

It seems that when the wicked pair had come to the 
luxurious palace of Machaerus to hold their court, the 
rigors of John's imprisonment were relaxed, and he was 
permitted to have his disciples and friends visit him. 
Herod also called for him and heard him preach, and 
did many things that John commanded him to do. On 
some such occasion no doubt it was that John said to 
Herod, concerning his adulterous marriage with Hero- 
dias, " It is unlawful for thee to have her. ' ' But Herod 
had no thought of obeying John in this, and the fidelity 
of the preacher only incensed Herodias, who thirsted for 
his blood. She would have killed him, but could not. 






THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 



275 



Herod would have put him to death, but feared the peo- 
ple, because they counted John a prophet. However, a 
day convenient for carrying out the deadly purpose of 
Herodias came at last. 

The occasion was the birthday of Herod, who "made 
a supper to his lords, high captains and the chief estates 
of Galilee." It was customary, on such occasions, to 
have girls to dance before the company — the sexes did 
not dance together. Dancing was done by masked 
women. The dance-ballet was combined with a kind of 
pantomime show by which some story was told by ges- 
tures, without the utterance of a word. " But Herodias 
had craftily provided for the king an unexpected and ex- 
citing pleasure — a spectacle which would be sure to en- 
rapture such guests as his. Dancers and dancing-women 
were at that time in great request. The passion for wit- 
nessing these, too often indecent and degrading represen- 
tations, had naturally made its way into the Sadducean 
and semi-pagan court of these usurping Edomites, and 
Herod the Great had built in his palace a theatre for the 
Thymelici. A luxurious feast of the period was not re- 
garded as complete unless it closed with some gross pan- 
tomimic representation ; and doubtless Herod had 
adopted the evil fashion of the day, but he had not anti- 
cipated for his guests the rare luxury of seeing a princess 
— his own niece, a grand-daughter of Herod the Great 
and of Mariamme ; a descendant, therefore, of Simon 
the high priest, and the great line of Machabean prin- 
cesses, a princess who afterward became the wife of a 
tetrarch and the mother of a king — honoring them by 
degrading herself as a scenic dancer." The dancing of 
Salome, daughter of Herodias, pleased Herod and the 
half-intoxicated revellers. In his excitement Herod 



2j6 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

promised her anything she should ask, even to the half 
of his kingdom, which was not his to give. 

' ' The girl flew to her mother and said, ' What shall I 
ask ? ' It was exactly what Herodias expected, and she 
might have asked for robes or jewels, or palaces, or what- 
ever such a woman loves ; but to a mind like hers, re- 
venge was sweeter than wealth or pride, and we may im- 
agine with what fierce malice she hisses the unhesitating 
answer, 'The head of John the Baptizer,' and, coming 
out before the king immediately with haste (what a touch 
of nature is that ! and how apt a pupil did the wicked 
mother find in her wicked daughter !), Salome exclaimed, 
■ My wish is that you give me here, immediately, on a 
dish, the head of John the Baptist' " 

Herod now saw how rash had been his vow, for in 
this he had before resisted Herodias, but instead of re- 
penting of his wicked promise, he wickedly keeps it, for 
he fears the scorn of his guests more than the displeasure 
of God. At once the executioner is dispatched on his 
cruel errand, and there, in his dark dungeon, without 
warning of any kind, the great prophet is slain, and his 
bleeding head, severed from his body, is brought upon a 
golden dish and placed in the hands of the dancer, who 
hastens with it to her guilty mother. 

Tradition says that the head was cast over the walls and 
down into the valley below to become the food of vul- 
tures, but the body was borne sorrowfully away by John's 
disciples, who buried his remains and then " went and 
told Jesus." All the principals in this bloody work met 
with punishment, even in this life. Herod and Herodias 
died in exile and disgrace, while it is said that Salome 
died a horrible and early death. 



THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES. 277 



CHAPTER LI. 

THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES. 

Matt. xiv. 13-21 ; Mark vi. 30-44 ; I^uke ix. 10-17 ; John vi. 1-14 ;— Northeastern 
Coast of the L,ake, near Bethsaida, a.d. 29. 

THE disciples, after the missionary tour of Galilee, met 
their Lord again at Capernaum, and told him all 
they had done and said. It was while the twelve 
disciples were absent on their preaching tour that Herod 
Antipas beheaded John the Baptist in the castle of 
Machaerus. The intelligence of the cruel death of John 
was brought to Jesus by the returning twelve as well as 
by the grief-stricken disciples of the Baptist. 

' ' Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest 
awhile," Jesus said to the twelve. They were then pro- 
bably near Capernaum, and the people out of the populous 
cities on the western shore of the sea of Galilee, and the 
many pilgrims on their way to the Passover, were crowd- 
ing around him. Feeling the need of rest from labor, and 
desiring solitude on account of his grief for John, he and 
his disciples embarked in a little boat and crossed the lake 
to the neighborhood of Bethsaida, on the northeastern 
shore, called also Julias, to distinguish it from Bethsaida, 
on the western shore of the lake. To the narrow, grassy 
plain, Butaiha, sloping from the surrounding hills to the 
water's edge, the little company went, but the people, 
having marked his destination, and greatly excited by 
his wonderful works, follow him by land around the 
head of the lake. 

Running afoot, many of them reached there before 



278 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

he did, and when the boat came to land, the people, 
filling the plain, were waiting his arrival. Jesus had 
gone away to rest, but when he beheld the multitude he 
had compassion on them, for they were as sheep having 
no shepherd. He healed their sick, and probably from 
the hillside preached to them the gospel of the kingdom. 
Thus nearly the whole day was spent ; the time of the 
noonday meal was far passed, and the sun was on its 
way down behind the hills, and they were in a desert 
place. The disciples besought Jesus to send the multi- 
tude away, that they might find food and shelter in the 
neighboring village. While the Master was supplying 
the needs of the soul, they were thinking of the wants of 
the body. The reply of Jesus must have awakened the 
astonishment of his followers : ' ' They need not depart ; 
give ye them to eat." Thus he tries their faith. 
' ' Whence can we buy bread that these may eat ? " 
Philip declares that two hundred penny-worth would 
not be enough ; in other words, it would take about two 
hundred dollars' worth in our time to give them all even 
a little. Andrew says that all they have at hand are five 
barley loaves, the food of the poor, and two small fishes 
in possession of a lad. 

At once the command is given, to make all the people 
sit down in companies, by fifties and hundreds. It was 
this great array of people, divided off into ranks or ' ' gar- 
den~plats," dressed in the gay clothing of the East, and 
scattered over the green grass, that is said to have sug- 
gested to the apostle Peter the thought of the scene as like 
a flower garden spread out before his view. Jesus took 
the bread and the fish and gave thanks as was usual befoie 
eating, and then, blessing the food, be gave it to his 
disciples to give to the people. 



THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES. 2jg 

The bread and the fish were multiplied in the hands 
of the Saviour, and then distributed among them all, 
and the hungry people were all filled. There was more 
than enough for all that vast multitude of five thousand 
men, besides women and children. The Lord shows 
his economy even in the exercise of almighty power, by 
commanding that the fragments be gathered up, so that 
nothing should be lost. The disciples gathered twelve 
small baskets full of these fragments, more than they 
had at first, and enough to fill the traveling pouch or 
food basket of each of the twelve with provision for 
future need. We are reminded of the children of Israel, 
who were fed upon manna in the wilderness ; of the 
prophet sustained by ravens ; of the widow's oil and 
meal that failed not ; and of what God is doing for us 
constantly in providing our daily bread. But yet this 
was a stupendous miracle, and was evidently so re- 
garded, for all of the evangelists record it. And mark 
its effect upon the people, who were looking for the 
Messiah, and expecting deliverance from the Roman 
yoke, and who when they saw this sign said : "This is 
in truth that prophet that should come into the world ;" 
and they sought to take him by force and proclaim him 
king, but Jesus sent his disciples to go by boat to the 
other side of the lake, and after sending away the multi- 
tude he himself went into the mountain alone to pray. 



2 8o THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LII 



WALKING ON THK WATER. 



Matt. xiv. 22-36; Mark vi. 45-56; John vi. 15-21.— Sea of Galilee, Gennesareth, 

a.d. 29. 

JESUS having dismissed the multitude, sought the 
retirement of the mountain, and is engaged in 
prayer. The disciples in the little boat are now 
toiling in the midst of the sea. It is already dark, and 
yet Jesus has not come to them. A sudden storm had 
come upon them, and the sea rose by reason of a great 
wind that swept down from the hills. The waters, 
lashed into foam, are tossing about the little vessel in 
which the disciples are. Jesus in the mountain sees 
them toiling and rowing and striving against a contrary 
wind. 

They had rowed about four miles, and were not quite 
half-way across the sea. In the last of the four Roman 
watches — the fourth watch, or between three and six 
o'clock in the morning — Jesus came to them walking on 
the sea as though it were dry land. They saw him as 
he drew near, and were greatly afraid, supposing, in their 
superstition, that he was a spirit. But when they cried 
out with fear he said to them, above the storm, "Be of 
good cheer, it is I, be not afraid." Then Peter, with his 
usual impetuosity, asks, "Lord, if it be thou, let me 
come to thee on the water?" Jesus gives him permis- 
sion, and Peter getting down over the side of the vessel 
stands upon the water, and with his eye on the Master, 
walks upon the waves toward the beloved form of 



. 



WALKING ON THE WATER. 



28l 



Jesus, dimly seen in the darkness. But looking away 
from Jesus and seeing the angry waves about him and 
hearing the boisterous winds, he is afraid and beginning 
to sink he cries out, "Lord, save me." Jesus stretches 




WHEREFORE DIDST THOU DOUBT? 



forth his hand and lifting Peter up says, " O thou of 
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Jesus and 
Peter then entered the vessel, and immediately the sea 
became calm and the winds ceased to blow. 

In speaking of this imploring cry of Peter, Mr. Spur- 
geon says : 



282 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

" Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words 
in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were enough for 
his purpose. Not length, but strength, is desirable. A sense of 
need is a mighty teacher of brevity. Precious things lie in small 
compass, and all that is real prayer in many a long address might 
have been uttered in a petition as short as that of Peter.'' 

Forgetting the miracle of the loaves, which they had 
witnessed but a few hours before, these simple-minded 
followers of the Lord are filled with wonder at this later 
miracle, of his walking upon the stormy sea. And all 
in the vessel, including the crew and the disciples, came 
and worshiped him, saying, u Of a truth thou art the 
Son of God ? ' ' words which had been applied to him 
once before by Nathanael. And immediately we are 
told, as if in a miraculous way, the boat that was in the 
middle of the sea when Jesus entered it, was at the place 
of destination, the land of Gennesaret. 

Says Farrar : 

" I,et us pause a moment longer over this wonderful narrative, 
perhaps of all others the most difficult for our feeble faith to be- 
lieve or understand. Some have tried in various methods to ex- 
plain away its miraculous character. . . . But let them not at- 
tempt to foist such disbelief into the plain narrative of the 
evangelists. That they intended to describe an amazing miracle 
is indisputable to any one who carefully reads their words. . . . 
So then if, like Peter, we fix our eyes on Jesus, we too may walk 
triumphantly over the swelling waves of disbelief, and unterrified 
amid the rising winds of doubt. ' ' 

Gennesaret was a fertile crescent-shaped plain, on the 
western shore of the sea of Galilee, extending from 
Magdala to Capernaum, north and south about three 
miles and west about one mile. It was the richest spot 
in Palestine, and a region of marvelous productions and 
of great beauty. Its climate was so mild that both the 



WALKING ON THE WATER. 283 

northern and the southern palm flourished there side by 
side. Grapes and figs were found there ten months of 
the year. Gennesareth melons were exported to Damas- 
cus and Acre, where they were in great demand. This 
plain was watered by a most excellent spring, which was 
thought by some to be a vein of the Nile, because fish 
was found there closely resembling the Coracinns, of the 
lake of Alexandria. Birds of brilliant colors and various 
forms abounded in the thick jungle of thorn and 
oleander that lined the shore. Here in this land of 
beauty were Bethsaida and Capernaum. 

When the people of this region heard that Jesus had 
returned they sent out into all the country round about 
and brought all the sick on beds and laid them in the 
street where he was, and the diseased begged him to let 
them but touch the hem of his garment. We have read 
of the afflicted woman who touched the hem of his gar- 
ment and was made whole, but here we are told of many 
such — "as many as touched him were made perfectly 
whole." 



284 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvIII. 

THE BREAD OF LIFE. 
John vi. 22-71.— Synagogue at Capernaum, a.d. 29. 

A ~\ 7"E left some of the people where Jesus fed them. 

^ V They remained all night. When morning 
came they looked for him to return from the 
mountain where he had gone the day before. When 
neither Jesus nor his disciples returned, they became 
tired of waiting, and, seeing some boats on the shore 
which had been driven there by the wind that had im- 
peded the progress of the disciples across the lake, they 
took to these boats and went across to Capernaum. 
There they found Jesus in the synagogue teaching the 
people, and when they had found him they said, "Rabbi, 
when earnest thou hither ? ' ' Jesus knew their selfish 
nature, and so he turned to them and answered, Ye seek 
me not because ye want to hear me, nor to profit by my 
words, but because *ye were fed and filled with the loaves 
and fishes. Then he admonished them not to labor for 
bread for the perishing body, but for the bread of eter- 
nal life, the food for the soul, which he could give 
them. And when they asked him what they should do 
in order to perform the works of God, he replied, Believe 
on him whom God has sent. 

But they showed the hardness of their hearts by desir- 
ing some sign that God had sent him, forgetting that he 
had just fed them miraculously in the desert. They say 
to him, Our fathers in the wilderness did eat manna 
from heaven. Jesus replies, Moses did not give you that 
bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true 
bread from heaven. And when they said, ' ' Lord, ever- 



THE BREAD OF LIFE. 285 

more give us this bread," he replied, " I am the bread of 
life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he 
that believeth on me" shall never thirst." He then 
charges them with unbelief ; declares that he has come 
to do the Father's will, and that God's will is that they 
shall have everlasting life who believe in his Son, who 
will raise them up at the last day. 

The Jews murmured because he said, "I am the bread 
of life. " " Is not this the carpenter's son? How then 
does he say I came down from heaven ?' ' Jesus replies 
that all they who are taught of God shall come to him, 
and reiterates the statement, "lam the bread of life." 
" The bread that I give is my flesh." u Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have 
no life in you." " He that eateth me shall live by me." 
At this the Jews were offended, and said, "How can 
this man give us his flesh to eat? " And many even of 
his disciples said, "This is a hard saying ; who can hear 
it ? " Jesus said, ' ' What if ye should see the Son of man 
ascend up where he was before ? It is the spirit that 
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that 
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." 
From that time many of his disciples went back and 
walked with him no more, for they took these words in 
a literal sense, and did not apprehend their spiritual 
meaning. Then Jesus asked the twelve, Will you leave 
me ? Peter, replying for the others, said, " Lord, to 
whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life, 
and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." This was a noble confession, 
but Jesus, who knew all hearts, their deceitfulness and 
their unbelief, said : "I have chosen you twelve, and 
one of you is a devil," for he knew that one of his disci- 
ples — Judas Iscariot — would betray him. 




"illlllllllilill 1 ! 



BOOK SIXTH 



FROM THE THIRD PASSOVER IN THE 

PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS TO 

THE ENSUING FEAST OF 

TABERNACLES. 

A PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS, FROM APRII, A.D. 29 TO OCTOBER 
A.D. 29. 

(287) 



UNWASHED HANDS. 289 



CHAPTER IvIV. 

UNWASHED HANDS. 

Matt. xv. 1-20; Mark vii. 1-23; John vii. 1.— Galilee, Capernaum, a.d. 29. 

JESUS does not attend the third Passover of his pub- 
lic ministry, but remains in Galilee. The reason 
given is that it was unsafe for him to be in Judea 
because the Jews sought to kill him. The scribes and 
Pharisees who had come from Jerusalem, after attending 
the Passover, saw some of the disciples of Jesus eating 
bread with unwashed hands, and they came together to 
Jesus and found fault with them. It was not charged 
that the disciples were unclean, but that they had vio- 
lated a religious custom which required the washing of 
hands even if clean. This custom arose not from a de- 
sire for cleanliness, but from a love of superstitious cere- 
mony. If this custom were neglected, then they were 
regarded as defiled. 

The washing of the hands both before and after eating 
was strictly, required ; and, on coming from the market 
with the food to eat, they must take a bath, and this 
custom was extended, as Mark says, to the cups, pots 
and brazen vessels and tables. External purity was 
more important with them than inward purity. They 
had rules regulating how much water to use, and in 
what w r ay it was to be used ; how often it was to be 
changed ; how many might wash at a time ; all of 
which foolish rules the Saviour refused to recognize. 
Therefore they came to him and said, " Why do thy dis- 
ciples transgress the tradition of the elders ? For they 

13 



290 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

wash not their hands when they eat bread." By elders 
they meant the former or ancient teachers of the Jews ; 
by tradition, some precept or custom not commanded in 
the written law, but handed down by memory from one 
to another. 
Barnes says : 

" The Jews supposed that when Moses was on Mount Sinai, 
two sets of laws were delivered him : one, they said, was re- 
corded, and is that contained in the Old Testament ; the other 
was handed down from father to son, and kept uncorrupted to 
their day. They believed that Moses, before he died, delivered 
this law to Joshua ; he to the judges ; they to the prophets, so 
that it was kept pure, until it was recorded in the Talmuds. In 
these books these pretended laws are now contained. They are ex- 
ceedingly numerous and very trifling. They are, however, re- 
garded by the Jews as more important than either Moses or the 
prophets. One point in which the Pharisees differed from the 
Sadducees was in holding to these traditions. It seems, how- 
ever, that in the particular tradition here mentioned all the Jews 
combined." 

With these facts before us, we can understand the force 
of our Saviour' s answer : ' \ You hypocrites, ' ' playing 
your part as if religious ; truly does what Isaiah wrote 
concerning the Jewish race apply to you this day ; 
1 ' This people draw nigh to me with their mouth, and 
honor me with their lips : but their hearts are far from 
me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men." They did not truly 
worship God when they worshiped him only in form 
or outwardly, and when they taught instead of the doc- 
trines of God, — or for what God commanded to be be- 
lieved and practiced in religion, — the commandments of 
men. They were making vain attempts to serve God, 
and Jesus gives examples by way of proof and illustra- 
tion of what he says. 






UNWASHED HANDS. 29I 

" Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God 
by your tradition ? ' ' You accuse us of violating your 
human tradition, but I charge you with disobeying the 
law of God. ' ' For God commanded, saying, honor thy 
father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother 
let him die the death. But ye say, whosoever shall say 
to his father or mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou 
mightest be profited by me ; and honor not his father or 
mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the 
commandment of God of none effect by your tradi- 
tions. ' ' It seems that the gift or corban here means ' ' a 
thing dedicated to the service of God, and therefore not 
to be appropriated to any other use." These Jews 
taught that it was right for a child to say that he would 
devote such of his property to God as might be required 
by his aged parents for their support, and then refuse to 
help them in their time of need. Whether prompted by 
superstition, or hatred, or covetousness, he might thus 
get rid of his sacred duty to his parents on the plea that 
he had devoted his property to religious use. This Jesus 
condemns as a violation of the fifth commandment. A 
man cannot refuse to help his relatives on the plea of 
giving to God, without exciting God's displeasure. Our 
Saviour did not mean to condemn the habit of giving to 
God or to the service of religion, which he always com- 
mends, but he does condemn giving to him to get rid of 
giving to our brother. 

Then calling their special attention he continues, 
1 ' Hear me, every one of you, and understand : not that 
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that 
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." 
By this our Saviour meant that it was not eating bread 
with unwashed hands that rendered them sinners; for 



292 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

the soul could not be polluted by anything eaten; but 
the words and actions that proceed from a corrupt heart 
are the things which defile a man. At this the Pharisees 
were offended, and it was told to Jesus, but he answered, 
"Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not 
planted shall be rooted up ;' ' that is, God plants truth in 
the heart, and it is seen in good conduct and shall abide; 
but the errors of man shall be rooted up; and continuing, 
he said, " L,et them alone," trouble not about these 
fault-finding Pharisees, who set themselves up as 
teachers, but only teach error ; ' ' they be blind leaders 
of the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Peter then 
asked him to explain to them the parable he had spoken, 
and he replied; "Are ye also without understanding? 
Do ye not understand how the food that is taken does 
not enter the soul, and cannot render the heart sinful ; 
but the words of the mouth that come from a heart 
already corrupt, they defile the man; "for out of the 
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornica- 
tions, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies: These are the 
things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashed 
hands defileth not a man." 



THE WOMAN OF CANAAN. 



293 



T 



CHAPTER LV. 

THE WOMAN OF CANAAN. 

Matt. xv. 21-28 ; Mark vii. 24-30. — Country about Tyre and Sidon, a d. 29. 

HESE are significant words : " Then Jesus went 



thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and 
Sidon ; " for they indicate that Jesus, in order 
to escape the rising opposition of the Jews, retires for 
awhile from the scene of conflict to find among the 
heathen the rest and sympathy he failed to find among 
his own people. Hereafter among these very people the 
gospel is to bring forth much fruit. 

When the children of Israel were given the promised 
land and led into it they were yet required to conquer 
every inch of it, and to drive out the heathen inhab- 
itants, whom God meant thus to punish for their sin. 
But there was a narrow strip of land along the Mediter- 
ranean Sea coast that they seemed to be unable to take. 
It was called Phoenicia. In the times even of Solomon 
these people preserved their independence, and Hiram, 
king of Tyre, aided Solomon in furnishing material and 
men for the building of the temple at Jerusalem, show- 
ing that friendly relations existed between these two 
kings. It is to this country and to the neighborhood of 
these two important cities, Tyre and Sidon, on the Med- 
iterranean Sea, that Jesus now goes. 

A woman of Canaan, a descendant of the original in- 
habitants of the land, a Syro-Phcenician by birth, and 
"in culture and language a Greek," here follows him 
and seeks his blessing. Seeking privacy and rest, Jesus 



294 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

enters into a house. His fame had preceded him, and 
we are told that ' ' he could not be hid. ' ' This woman 
had heard of him, and having a daughter who was 
u grievously vexed with a demon," or unclean spirit, 
she came, beseeching him to cure her daughter. Her 
address showed that she, though a Gentile and not a 
Jew, had some conception of the Messiah's work and 
character, for she addressed him as Lord and as the son 
of David. The reception that Jesus gives her seems 
cold, for he pays no attention to her request, but keeps 
on his way. At length his disciples ask him to send her 
away, that her crying after them might cease. They 
had yet to learn that he came to save the Gentile sinner 
as well as the Jew. They fail to see that he seeks to 
exhibit to them and to the world this woman's marvel- 
ous faith. Jesus now answers the woman that he was 
sent only to God's own people, the Jews, the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel. But, falling at his feet, she 
cried, u Lord, help me." He replied, It is not proper 
to give the bread provided for the children to the dogs. 
Too humble to be offended at this, and moved by her 
urgent need, her faith, with admirable skill, makes an- 
swer, ' ' Yes, Lord : yet the dogs under the table eat of 
the children's crumbs." No wonder that these remark- 
able words have excited the astonishment of succeeding 
ages. She must have known how these very children 
despised the rich repast served them by the Lord, and 
shows her humility by being satisfied with the crumbs 
wasted and rejected by the ungrateful children. 
u Woman, great is thy faith ; be it done unto thee even 
as thou wilt." Her daughter was made whole from that 
hour, and believingly she returned home to find her 
child completely healed. 



THE FOUR THOUSAND FED. 295 



CHAPTER LVI. . 

THE FOUR THOUSAND FED. 
Matt. xv. 29 — xvi. 1-12 ; Mark vii. 31-37 ; viii. 1-26. — Decapolis, Magdala, a d. 29. 

THE route that Jesus took with his disciples from 
the borders of Tyre and Sidon to the region be- 
yond the sea of Galilee, we do not know, but we 
find him next in Decapolis, bordering on its southern 
coast. Here on a mountain he is engaged in teaching 
and healing the multitudes that flock about him. The 
lame were made to walk, the blind to see, the dumb to 
speak and to the maimed he restored the missing hand 
or foot. One case is particularly mentioned — that of the 
deaf man who had also an impediment in his speech. 
' k He took him aside from the multitude, and put his 
fingers into his ears, and spit and touched his tongue : 
and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, 
Ephphatha : that is, Be opened ; and straightway his ears 
were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed, and 
he spake plainly." He charged them to tell no man, 
but straightway they spread it abroad. 

The multitude that had gathered was very great, and 
they had nothing to eat. Touched with compassion, 
our Saviour called his disciples and reminded them that 
for three days the people had been without food, and 
that he could not send them away fasting, for they would 
faint on the way home, and some had far to go. The 
disciples wondered where in that wilderness they could 
get enough to feed such a multitude. Jesus asked them 




[ 29 6] 



THE FOUR THOUSAND FED. 



THE FOUR THOUSAND FED. 297 

how much food they had, and they replied, "Seven 
loaves and a few small fishes." He commanded the 
people to sit down on the ground, and, taking the 
loaves and fishes, he blessed them, and breaking them 
into fragments he gave them to the disciples and they 
gave them to the people. Besides women and children, 
there were four thousand men. All ate and were filled ; 
and they took up of the fragments seven baskets full, 
the baskets being such as were used by the disciples 
to carry their food. 

Having fed the people, he sent them away, while 
he and his disciples crossed the lake in a vessel and 
came into the neighborhood of Magdala, "into the 
parts of Dalmanutha." Magdala and Dalmanutha 
were towns on the western shore of the lake. Mag- 
dala was probably situated on the southern edge of 
the plain of Gennesareth. A modern traveler says 
that just before reaching Mejdel, the ancient Magdala, 
"we crossed a little open valley, with a few cornfields 
and gardens struggling among the ruins of a village, 
and some large and more ancient foundations of several 
copious fountains, probably identified with Dalman- 
utha." 

While in the vicinity of these two cities the Phari- 
sees and Sadducees, having become friendly toward 
each other in their opposition to Jesus, came and de- 
manded a sign from heaven, or some miraculous ap- 
pearance in the sky. This they did tempting him, 
pretending to be seriously seeking proof of his Messiah- 
ship. Jesus was deeply grieved at their wicked unbelief, 
and "sighed deeply in spirit," and then replied, "When 
it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky 
is red, and in the mprning it will be foul weaUier to-day, 

13* 



298 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

for the sky is red and lowering ; O ye hypocrites ; ye 
can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern 
the signs of the times ? ' ' 

In Judea they thus profess to judge of the weather by 
the appearances of the sky ; but they were blind and ig- 
norant when they came to interpret the prophetic tokens 
of the time appointed for the coming of the Messiah, and 
the evidences that Jesus was the Christ. They had re- 
jected John the Baptist, who gave every evidence of his 
divine appointment, and now they were about to re- 
ject him. "A wicked and adulterous generation" — a 
people thoroughly immoral and impious — ask for proof, 
when abundance of proof is given ; but, Jesus continues, 
' ' there shall no sign be given unto them but the sign 
of the prophet Jonah. ' ' Three times did Jesus thus re- 
fer to the great sign of his resurrection. Did they then 
believe when he actually rose from the dead ? No, they 
rejected even that proof, and persecuted the disciples 
because they proclaimed his resurrection. 

Hindered by their unbelief, Jesus could do nothing 
further, so "he left them and departed." He did 
not press his mercies on those who rejected him, 
and so he took boat again and crossed the lake, 
this time sailing north, and landed on the north- 
eastern coast of the sea of Galilee. In the haste of de- 
parture the disciples had forgotten to take sufficient 
bread with them, and had but one loaf ! This was an 
opportunity for Jesus to caution them about the teaching 
of the Jewish leaders whom they had just left. The 
Pharisees were the formalists and the Sadducees the 
rationalists of that day. "Take heed, and beware of 
the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." And 
they reasoned, saying, it is because we have taken no 



THE FOUR THOUSAND FED 



299 



bread, which, when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, 
O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, be- 
cause ye have brought no bread ? Have ye your hearts 
yet hardened ? Do ye not understand, neither remember 
the five loaves and the five thousand fed, and how many 
baskets ye took up ? And they answered twelve. Neither 
the seven loaves and the four thousand, and how many 
baskets ye took up ? And they said seven. How is it 
that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you con- 
cerning bread? Then understood they that he bade 
them beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the 
Sadducees. 

In the plain of Butaiha was situated the town of 
Bethsaida Julias, so called after the daughter of the em- 
peror. When he came to the city, which was two miles 
from the mouth of the Jordan, there was brought to him 
a blind man, and he was asked to cure him. He took 
the blind man by the hand, and led him out to the city ; 
and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands 
upon him he asked him if he saw aught? And he looked 
up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that he 
put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; 
and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Then 
Jesus sent him home with the injunction not to go 
into the town, nor to tell it to any one. By a w r ord 
he raised the dead, but Jesus confines himself to no 
one method, and here he seems to conform to human 
custom in using means, but the means are such as to 
make it evident that the cure is wrought by miraculous 
divine power. 



300 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

u THOU ART THE CHRIST." 

M att. xvi. 13-28 ; Mark viii. 27-38, ix. 1 ; Luke ix. 18-27.— Region of Csesarea 

Philippi, ad. 29. 

u A BOVE Perea the Tetrarchy of Philip reached to the 
^7~\^ slopes of Hermon on the north, and away to the desert 
on the east. It included the provinces of Gaulonitis, 
Iturea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and Batanea. ... In the life- 
time of Christ a large Jewish population lived in all these dis- 
tricts, in the midst of much larger numbers of Syrians, Arabs, 
Greeks and Phoenicians, under the rule of Philip, the son of 
Herod and of Cleopatra of Jerusalem, the best of Herod's sons. 
He retained not only the goodwill of his family, but was held in 
high esteem by the Romans, and the Jews especially honored him 
as springing from a daughter of Zion, During a reign of thirty- 
seven years he was no less gentle to his subjects than peaceful to 
his neighbors. His reign continued through the whole life of 
our Lord, but he is not mentioned in the gospels, though it is a 
noble tribute to him that Jesus once and again took refuge in his 
territories. 

" From the eastern side of the lake of Tiberias, Jesus went with 
his disciples up the course of the Jordan, staying at Bethsaida, 
where he healed a blind man, to Cesarea Philippi, near the sources 
of the Jordan. This city, at the very extremity of the Holy Land, 
marking the northernmost limits of our Saviour's travels, was 
the scene of some most memorable events— events designed to 
prepare the disciples for the consummation now rapidly ap- 
proaching. Now the time was come for a full and intelligent 
profession of their faith." 

Speaking of Cesarea Philippi, Geikie says : 

"A town, Baal-Gad — named from the Canaanite God of Fortune 
— had occupied the site from immemorial antiquity, but Philip 
had rebuilt it splendidly three years before Christ's birth, and, in 






"THOU ART THE CHRISTr 301 

accordance with the prevailing flattery of the emperor, had called 
it Cesarea in honor of Augustus. The worship of the Shepherd 
God, Pan, to whom a cave out of which burst the waters of the 
Jordan was sacred, had given its second name, Pan -las — now 
Banias— to the place. It was one of the loveliest spots in the 
Holy Land, built on a terrace of rock, part of the range of Her- 
mon ; the view ranged over all northern Palestine, from the 
plains of Phoenicia to the hills of Samaria. In the northwest 
rose the dark, gigantic mountain forms of Lebanon ; to the south 
stretched out the rich table-land of the Hauran. From Hermon, 
not from Zion or the Mount of Olives, one beholds ' the goodly 
land — the land of brooks, of waters, of fountains, of depths that 
spring out of the valleys and hills.' " 

Says Dr. Porter : 

" We wandered for hours among the ruins of Cesarea Philippi, 
where hewn stones, massive foundations and fragments of granite 
columns testify alike to former strength and grandeur. The site, 
unlike most others in Palestine, is not less remarkable for natural 
beauty than for classic and sacred associations. Here are rugged 
mountains and wooded vale, battlemented height and gushing 
stream, crumbling ruin and wide-spreading plain, all combined 
in one glorious picture. Behind the ruin rises a cliff of ruddy 
limestone ; at its base is a dark cave, now nearly filled with the 
ruins of the Temple ; from the cave, from the ruins, from every 
chink and cranny in the soil and rocks around, waters rush forth, 
which soon collect in a torrent, dash in a sheet of foam down a 
rocky bed, and at length plunge over a precipice into a deep, 
dark ravine. This is one of the great fountains of the Jordan. 
. . . But a deeper and holier interest is attached to the spot. 
Beneath the shadow of that battlemented height, along the banks 
of that stream, our Lord and his disciples wandered ; and on one 
of these peaks above, Peter, James and John obtained a glimpse 
of heaven's glory in the Transfiguration." 

It was when he was on his way to the borders of 
Cesarea Philippi that Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do 
men say that I, the Son of man, am ? ' ' Jesus knew, 
but he desired to draw out their thoughts. They answer, 



302 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

' ' Some say John, the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others, 
Jeremiah or one of the prophets. " " But who say ye 
that I am ?" Simon Peter, ever quick to reply, answers 
for himself and the other disciples, u Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. ' ' This was a won- 
derful confession to be made by Peter, despite the out- 
ward circumstances of poverty and humility in which 
our Iyord then was placed. 

In confessing Jesus as the Messiah, Peter rose above 
the worldly expectations of the Jews. His conception 
is at once lofty and spiritual. Jesus accepts the title . of 
honor bestowed by his disciples, and approvingly says, 
"Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jona, for flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, 
who is in heaven. ' ' Not only for the utterance of this 
fundamental gospel truth was Peter blessed; but having 
this truth revealed in his heart, he had both the doctrine 
and the grace, and both were revealed to him by the 
Holy Spirit. "And," continues Jesus, "Thou art 
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will 
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and 
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall 
be loosed in heaven. ' ' 

Dr. J. G. Butler says, that ' ' The word Petra, here 
translated rock, has a generic sense, a mass of rock, and 
is never used in the signification of Petros (Peter), a 
single stone. It is employed here, not only to distin- 
guish the word from Petros, the proper name of Peter, 
but as more consentaneous with the idea oi foundation, 
which, in case of edifices designed to be durable, was 
composed, possibly, of the living rock." It is not on 



304 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Peter, but on Christ, whom Peter had just confessed as 
God and man, that the church was to be built. He who 
builds on the words of Christ, builds on a rock. In a 
secondary sense the church is spoken of as being built 
on the apostles and prophets, with "Jesus Christ the 
chief corner-stone," and all believers are "living 
stones, ' ' of which Peter is one of the first. 

" Peter's position in the Church is illustrated by another figure 
(verse 19) which has been equally perverted ; as if the servant 
who had charge of the keys of the house were almost on a level 
with the master himself. The event furnished the simple and 
natural interpretation, when, on the day of Pentecost, Peter was 
the first to admit a multitude of the believing Jews ; and after- 
wards, in the house of Cornelius, a number of Gentile proseh^tes 
into the Christian Church. He did both as the organ of the other 
apostles, who shared his action in the first case, and confirmed it 
in the second ; for to them Christ afterwards gave the same privi- 
lege that he now gives Peter. The only distinction between him 
and the other apostles is a priority in time, corresponding to the 
priority of his confession of Christ. ' ' 

Jesus charged them to tell no man that he was the 
Christ, for the time had not yet come for the revelation 
of this great truth to the, nation, but he has more to say 
to these chosen few about himself and his work. "From 
that time forth he began to shew ' ' them how he must eo 
to Jerusalem and suffer many things; be rejected by the 
elders, scribes and priests, and be killed and raised again 
the third day. Peter could not endure this; so he re- 
monstrates with him, saying, " This shall not be." But 
Jesus turning to Peter says, "Get thee behind me, Satan; 
thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the 
things that be of God, but the things that be of men." 
Peter was unconsciously urging him to leave the path of 
duty, which led to suffering and death, and to do what 



THOU ART THE CHRIST: 



305 



men, seeking their own, would do, and thus was tempt- 
ing the Son of man by putting a stumbling block m his 
way. 

Jesus declares that every disciple must deny himself 
and take up his cross and follow him ; that he who will 
lose his life for him shall gain eternal life; that it will not 
profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose 
his own soul, for nothing could be given to redeem the 
soul once lost. He announces the fact that he will 
come in glory with the angels, to judge the world, and 
that if we are ashamed of him here he will be ashamed 
of us before his Father ; and he assures his hearers that 
some of them will not die before the kingdom of God 
shall come with power on the earth. 




MOUNT HERMON. 



306 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvVIII. 

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

Matt. xvii. 1-13 ; Mark ix. 2-13 ; I,uke ix. 28-36. — A mountain in the region of 
Cesarea Philippi, probably Hertnon, a.d. 29. 

T" T will always remain a mystery how the Lord and 
-*- his disciples spent that period of time called abont 
eight days by Luke, and six by Matthew and 
Mark, after which occur the events here recorded. The 
wonderful confirmation of the Messiahship of Jesus af- 
forded by the transfiguration was not given to the nation, 
but to those three disciples before chosen by the Master, 
to be near him at the raising of Jairus' daughter, and 
afterwards in Gethsemane — Peter and the two sons of 
thunder, James and John. John, the beloved disciple, 
afterward refers to this event, saying, "We beheld his 
glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, 
full of truth and grace ; ' ' and Peter says, ' ' We were 
eye-witnesses of his glory on the mountain." 

For centuries, ever since the days of Jerome, there 
has been a tradition existing among Christians that it 
was upon Mount Tabor that Jesus went with his three 
disciples and was transfigured before them. A monas- 
tery erected here in the fifth century attests this belief. 
But in more recent times there have been reasons to 
doubt this view. On the summit of Mount Tabor was 
a fortress, according to Josephus, and therefore not a 
place for solitude. But Mount Tabor is in Galilee, and 
"Jesus did not return to Galilee at this time, but was in 
the neighborhood of Cesarea Philippi, north of the sea 
of Galilee and near the mouth of the Jordan. It is 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 307 

probable that he went yet farther north to the slopes of 
Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped top can be seen from 
the Dead Sea. It best answers the description given of 
a high mountain," and "the mountain," the latter 
being the very designation by which it is known. 

Doubtless upon this cool, quiet mountain, in the even- 
ing of the day, Jesus led the three disciples to prepare 
himself for the coming conflict of the cross and for their 
separation so near at hand. But here, as in Gethsemane, 
the three disciples sleep while the Master prays. Kneel- 
ing upon the grass on the mountain side, they had 
doubtless finished their evening devotion and had lain 
down to sleep till they were called. "Jesus continued 
in prayer, and his soul rose above all earthly sorrows, 
drawn forth by the nearness of his heavenly Father, the 
divinity within shone through the veiling flesh. ' ' They 
could not sleep for such brightness. They saw the fash- 
ion of his countenance change, his face shone as the sun, 
and his raiment became bright as the light, and whiter 
than the snow. Just as the dark opaque carbon becomes 
white with glowing heat when the current of electricity 
passes through it, so the heavenly glory that filled the 
soul of Jesus gave radiance to his face and brightness to 
his garments. There appeared also in radiant glory two 
persons, who stood by and talked with him. The sub- 
ject of their conversation was his approaching sufferings 
and death on the cross at Jerusalem, about which the 
Master has just been discoursing with his disciples. The 
three wondering disciples saw the glorified forms, and 
knew them to be Jesus, Moses and Elijah. 

These visitors from the other world appeared to Jesus 
doubtless for his encouragement. They spoke not only 
of his death but of his coming conquest and glory. It 



308 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

seems strange that these disciples should become heavy 
with sleep and, losing their consciousness, lose also part 
of the conversation of the three glorified ones.. But 
when they awake again ' ' the splendid vision ' ' is still 
before them. Peter, amazed and transported, and not 
knowing what he said, and wishing to delay the depart- 
ing visitants, exclaims, "Jesus, Master, it is good for 
us to be here ; let us make three tabernacles ; one for 
thee, and one for Moses, and one for Klias." Impetuous 
Peter has forgotten the rebuke, 4 ' Get thee behind me, 
Satan," and the more recent conversation among the 
three shining ones about the coming sacrifice by the Son 
of God. He would make three booths of the green 
branches on the mount, and have the three disciples and 
the three glorified ones dwell together there in prolonged 
ecstasy and joy. But his answer came from heaven. 

While he yet spake, a bright cloud, the glorious She- 
chinah, the visible presence of God that once filled the 
temple but now had departed from it, overshadowed 
them, and out of the cloud there came a voice, saying, 
' ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; 
hear ye him," whom both the law and the prophets 
exalt. The flood of glorious light and the awful voice 
were too much for them. The three disciples were sore 
afraid, and fell prostrate on their faces to the earth. Not 
till Jesus came to them and touched them, saying, 
"Arise, and be not afraid," did they recover sufficiently 
from their fright to raise themselves up and look around. 

When they looked up they saw no man save - Jesus 
only. "Jesus, on this occasion, as often before, knelt in 
prayer." When, in the desert, he was girding himself 
for the work of life, angels came and ministered to him, 
so now, in the fair world, when he is girding himself for 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 



309 



the work of death, the ministrants come to him from the 
spiritual world, the one from his secret tomb under 
Abrim, which God's own hand had sealed long ago ; the 
other from the rest to which he had been carried in the 
fiery chariot without seeing corruption. Moses and 
Elias having departed, the prayer is ended, the task is 
accepted, and Jesus is now ready for the ordeal. In this 
scene on the mount, the full glory falls upon him from 
heaven, and the testimony is borne to his divine sonship 
and supreme authority. " Hear ye him." 

Jesus charged the three, when they were descending 
the mount, not to tell any man what things they had 
heard and seen till after he had risen from the dead ; 
probably because the purpose of the transfiguration could 
best be carried out in that way. It would neither glorify 
God, nor add any weight to the proof already given of 
his sonship if made known, and they kept it to them- 
selves. The morning found them descending the slope 
of Hennon. Although Jesus had told them plainly of 
his resurrection, yet the disciples question among them- 
selves what the " rising from the dead should mean." 
And they asked him, ' ' Why say the scribes that Elias 
must first come?" This opinion of the scribes was 
no doubt derived from Malachi, who prophesied of his 
coming before the Christ. They had seen Elijah, and 
had received additional proof that Jesus was the Christ. 
But Elijah had gone as suddenly as he had come. Jesus 
replied that Elijah must indeed come and restore all 
things; "But I say unto you that Elijah has come 
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto 
him whatsoever they listed ; likewise must the Son of 
man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that 
he spake unto them of John the Baptist." 



3 1 THE STOR Y OF JESUS, 



CHAPTER LIX. 

THE DEMONIAC BOY. 

Matt. xvii. 14-23 ; Mark ix. 14-32 ; Luke ix. 37-45.— Region of Caesarea Philippi, 

a.d. 29. 

A A 7"HEN Jesus and his three companions reached 
^ ^ the foot of the mountain, they came upon the 
multitude of people who had followed him into 
the desert. They were crowding around the nine disci- 
ples, and some of the scribes were disputing with them. 
When the people saw Jesus they were amazed at his un- 
expected appearance from that quarter, and running to 
meet him they saluted him respectfully. Jesus at once 
asked the scribes what they were disputing about with 
his disciples. One of the multitude came to him kneel- 
ing* and said, that he had brought his only son, who had 
an evil-dumb spirit, that caused him to tear himself, foam 
and gnash his teeth; and he was sore vexed by it, for it 
often made him fall into the fire and into the water; and 
he was wasting away. The father told Jesus that he had 
brought the child to the disciples to be healed, but that 
they could not cure him. Even while he was speaking, 
beseeching Jesus to have mercy on his son and cure him, 
the demon took the child, causing him to cry out, to 
tear himself and also to foam and bruise himself. 

Jesus first turned to his disciples and said to them, "O 
faithless and perverse generation ! how long shall I suffer 
you? bring him hither to me." And when they brought 
him to Jesus, even while they were yet coming, c ' the 
demon threw him down and tare him. ' ' Jesus asked the 



THE DEMONIAC BOY. 311 

father how long since this trouble came upon him ? He 
answered, u of a child," and that the demon had often 
tried to destroy him; "but if thou canst do anything, 
have compassion on us and help us." Our Saviour's 
answer has its lesson for us also — u If thou canst believe, 
all things are possible to him that believeth." The ex- 
citement must have been intense, for the people came 
running and crowding together. Then Jesus rebuked 
the "foul spirit," saying, "Dumb and deaf spirit, I 
charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into 
him." And the spirit cried, and "rent him sore " and 
came out, leaving him as one dead, but Jesus took him 
by the hand, and raising him up, delivered him to his 
father cured. 

Afterwards the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, 
why they could not cast out the demon. They had suc- 
cessfully cast out demons before in his name. Jesus re- 
plied, ' ' because of your unbelief. ' ' He told them that 
if they had faith as small as a grain of mustard seed they 
could say to the mountain towering above them, "remove 
hence to yonder place; " and it would remove, and noth- 
ing should be impossible to them. But this kind he said 
" goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." 

Leaving the region of Cesarea Philippi, Jesus and his 
disciples journey southward, probably in a quiet way and 
in secluded paths through Galilee towards Capernaum. 
As they walked they wondered at the things he had done. 
He had faithfully sought the people, but stirred up 
against him by the scribes and Pharisees, he could not 
trust himself safely with them. Some believed and 
favored him and, what was more, sought his favors; but 
he has another work to do — to continue to instruct his 
disciples. And as they journeyed he said to them, ' ' Let 



3 1 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



these things sink deep into your ears." And again he 
told them that he was to be betrayed, and to be put to 
death, and that he would rise again on the third day. 
He had told them this before, but they could not under- 
stand. " It was hid from them, and they feared to ask 
him. They did understand enough, however, to be sor- 
rowful at the thought of his coming death. And yet 
they could not understand how that he, whom they were 
doubly sure was the Messiah, could meet with such a fate 
and disappoint all their hopes, for they expected him to 
restore the temporal kingdom of David." 




THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. 



WHO SHALL BE GREATEST? 313 



CHAPTER IvX. 

WHO SHALL BE GREATEST? 

Matt. xvii. 24-27; xviii. 1-35 ; Mark ix. 33-50 ; L,t;ke ix. 45-50.— Galilee, Caper- 
naum, A.D. 29. 

"T ~X THEN they reached Capernaum the tax collectors 
^ V came to Peter and asked him whether Jesus 
did not pay tribute. Peter answered, Yes. We 
do not know why, unless it was the awe his presence in- 
spired, they did not go to Jesus himself. We have no 
account of Jesus ever paying tribute before. They came 
now doubtless to entangle him. This was not the Roman 
tribute which he had before approved of sending to 
Caesar, but a tax of half a shekel levied by the Jews for 
the temple sacrifice, which, from time immemorial, had 
been collected from every Jew, rich and poor alike, 
throughout the world, at home and abroad, like the 
Peter's pence. Priests and rabbis were exempt, and 
Jesus, as a rabbi, was not under obligation to pay it. 
So when Peter came to him in the house Jesus asked 
him whether kings took taxes of their own sons or of 
those that were not. There was but one answer, ' ' Of 
strangers," Peter replied. Then are the sons free, and 
I, as the Son of God, whose temple and service this 
is, am free, Jesus replied. But to prevent offense and 
trouble, go to the sea and cast in the hook and open 
the mouth of the first fish you catch and you will find 
a silver coin in its mouth. Take it and pay your tax 
and mine. 

As they had journeyed toward Capernaum the dis 
14 



314 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

ciples disputed among themselves as to which one 
should be greatest in the coming kingdom of the 
Messiah. They had just seen some preference shown 
for three of their number, and the others had been un- 
able to cure the dumb child. Jesus, who knew their 
thoughts, said nothing till seated in the house with 
the twelve around him, Peter having paid their tax 
and returned. Then he asked them the cause of their 
dispute on the way. They were reluctantly forced to 
confess the truth, and Jesus, calling a little child into 
the midst of them, folded him in his arms, and said, 
If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of 
all, and servant of all. Except ye be converted and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall receive one of 
such children in my name receiveth me. Whosoever 
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

The expression, "in my name," reminds John of an 
incident which he now relates. They had met a man 
who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, and they 
had forbidden him to do it because he refused to follow 
them. Jesus tells them that they should not have for- 
bidden him, because he that is not against them is for 
them, and no man could do a miracle in his name who 
would speak lightly of him ; moreover, that whosoever 
should give even a cup of cold water to them because 
they belonged to him, should not lose his reward. Jesus 
continues his discourse about the little ones "who be- 
lieve in him." It were better for a man to be cast into 
the sea with a mill-stone tied to his neck than to offend 
or cause to sin one of the feeblest of his followers. 

There will always be causes of stumbling and falling, 



WHO SHALL BE GREATEST? 315 

but woe to him who tempts another to sin, thus doing 
the devil's work for him. Rather than be the cause of 
the downfall of others, it were better to lose the offend- 
ing member, even if it be an arm to cut it off, or an eye 
to pluck it out. It is far better to live without arm or 
eye than to be cast into hell to feed the worm that never 
dies, and add fuel to the fire that shall never be 
quenched. u For as salt is sprinkled over every sacrifice 
for its purification, so must every soul be purged by fire ; 
if need be of the severest and most terrible sacrifice." 
"Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one 
another," were fitting words to those who were to be the 
salt of the earth, but who had just been contending 
among themselves. 

Jesus gives two reasons why the little ones, the young- 
est and weakest of God's children, are not to be despised 
or neglected. The first is, because the angels of heaven, 
who are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, at- 
tend them and delight to honor them. And second, be- 
cause Christ came to save them. Just as the shepherd 
who has a hundred sheep, if he loses one, leaves the 
ninety and nine and goes to find the one that has gone 
astray, so the Son of man came to seek and to save the 
lost. It is not God's will that one of these little ones 
should perish. As his disciples they must not only not 
lead others into sin, but they must seek and save the 
lost. 

Moreover, one of the duties which they owe to one 
another is the duty of forgiveness of injuries. If your 
brother has done you an injury, go to him and tell him 
his fault privately and kindly, and endeavor to win him. 
But if he refuse to listen to you, then take one or two 
more for witnesses, and if he will not hear them, then 



3 1 6 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

let the church decide the matter, and if he refuse to hear 
the church, then you may cease your efforts and regard 
him no longer as a brother. If two of you agree in 
prayer they shall be heard in heaven, and ■ ( wherever 
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am 
I in the midst of them." Peter desires to know how 
many times he must forgive an injury. Jesus replies, 
not seven times, but ' ' seventy times seven. ' ' He re- 
lates a beautiful parable to teach forgiveness. A man 
who owed his king ten thousand talents, or twelve mil- 
lion dollars, not being able to pay, the king orders, ac- 
cording to eastern usage, that he, his wife and child 
and all that he had shall be sold to pay the debt. The 
debtor falls down at the king's feet and begs for mercy. 
The king, moved with compassion, forgives him his 
debt. But soon after meeting a fellow-servant who owed 
him the paltry sum of a hundred pence (seventeen dol- 
lars), he took him by the throat, saying, " Pay me that 
thou owest." The poor man entreated for a little time, 
and promised to pay it all. But he refused to wait and 
cast him into prison till the debt should be paid. When 
the king heard it he was angry, and said, " I had com- 
passion on thee ; ' ' and he delivered him to the torment- 
ors till he should pay all. ' ' So likewise shall my heav- 
enly Father do also unto you, if ye forgive not from 
your hearts every one his trespasses. ' ' 



THE JOURNE Y TO WARDS DEA TH. 317 



CHAPTER LXI. 

THE JOURNEY TOWARDS DEATH. 

Matt. viii. 19-22 ; Luke ix. 51-62 ; John vii. 2-10. — Samaria, on the way from 
Capernaum to Jerusalem, a.d. 29. 

THE feast of the tabernacles, or tents, — one of the 
great national feasts of the Jews — was at hand. 
This feast was celebrated in commemoration of 
the journey through the wilderness when the nation 
dwelt in tabernacles or tents — when God fed them and 
led them from Egypt to the promised land. It was ob- 
served with many pleasing ceremonies. The streets of 
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and every available 
space was occupied with booths made of the boughs of 
trees. Some of the people were already on their way 
and caravans were forming and moving towards the holy 
city. Therefore, Jesus' brethren, his mother's children, 
came to him and asked him to go with them into Judea, 
assigning as the reason that the disciples — those proba- 
bly of Judea — might also see such works as he had done 
in Galilee. Before this they had sought to take him 
home. " Show thyself to the world," said they. Jesus 
replied, ' ' My time is not yet come. Go ye up to this 
feast. I go not up yet." And he tarried there in Galilee. 
But presently, when the "time was come that he 
should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go 
up to Jerusalem," and when his brethren had gone, then 
he also privately went to the feast, passing through 
Samaria on the way. He would not go with those who 
would have defeated his purpose and done violence to 



318 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

his feelings by making a public exhibition of his powers 
in order to feed their vanity or ambition. But now he pro- 
poses to go quietly to the feast, and sends some of his fol- 
lowers before to secure entertainment for him in one of the 
villages of Samaria. But the Samaritans would not re- 
ceive him. 

They knew him, and had heard of his work in Gali- 
lee, and also in other parts of Samaria, but when 
they knew that the Messiah was going toward Jerusalem 
to celebrate the Passover, and was about to pass by them 
and their temple at Mount Gerizim, they refused to re- 
ceive him. This rejection by the Samaritans only anti- 
cipated by a short time the final rejection of the Son of 
man by the Jews, to whom he came as his own people. 
The disciples were indignant that their master should be 
refused entertainment and hospitality. In their wrath, 
James and John propose that they shall call down fire 
from heaven for the destruction of the Samaritans. They 
had been eye-witnesses of his glory. They had heard of 
the destruction by fire from heaven of the two companies 
of soldiers sent to arrest the prophet Elijah, and they de- 
sire to see their divine Master vindicate his insulted honor 
by a similar act of vengeance upon these insolent Samari- 
tans. The reply of Jesus fully proves his claim that he 
came to save, not to destroy, and shows the peacefulness 
of his character. He rebukes the revengeful spirit of 
the disciples : " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye 
are of. The Son of man is not come to destroy men's 
lives, but to save them." They then went to another 
village, where they were doubtless kindly received. 

While on his way through Samaria a well-known 
scribe, whose ideas of the Messiah's kingdom were very 
crude, came to Jesus and declared his intention of follow- 



THE JOURNEY TO WARDS DEA TH. 319 

ing him. To him Jesus replies, ' ' The foxes have holes 
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head. ' ' The man was proba- 
bly discouraged and went back. Another, however, 
whom Jesus called to follow him, wanted first to go and 
bury his father — that is, to wait for his father's death and 
then to follow him, but Jesus replied, ' ' Follow me, and 
let the dead bury their dead." That is, let those dead 
in trespasses and sins, bury him. ' ' Go thou and preach 
the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow 
thee, but let me first go to bid them at home farewell." 
But Jesus said, ' ' No man, having put his hand to the plow 
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. ' ' The 
first and immediate duty is to follow Christ. The all- 
important concerns are those which are spiritual and 
eternal ; and the work of Christ and the promotion of 
his kingdom must receive our first attention, our un- 
divided love, our earnest devotion. These men were 
unlike the apostle Paul, when converted, who says, 
" Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." 



BOOK SEVENTH. 



FROM THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES TO 

THE ARRIVAL OF JESUS AT BETHANY, 

SIX DAYS BEFORE THE FOURTH OR 

LAST PASSOVER IN OUR LORD'S 

PUBLIC LIFE. 



A PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS, LESS SIX DAYS ; FROM OCTOBER A.D. 
29 TO APRIL A.D. 30. 



(321) 




ROBBERS ON THE ROAD TO JERICHO. 



(322) 






THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 



323 



CHAPTER IyXII. 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 
John vii. 1 1-36.— Jerusalem, a.d. 29. 

(< TT was Cholhamoed, as the non-sacred part of the festive 
1 week, the half- holy days were called," says Edersheim. 
"Jerusalem, the city of solemnities, the city of palaces, 
the city of beauty and glory, wore quite another than its 
usual aspect ; other, even, than when the streets were thronged by 
festive pilgrims, during the Passover week, or at -Pentecost, for 
this was pre-eminently the feast for foreign pilgrims coming 
from the farthest distance, whose temple contributions were then 
received and counted despite the strange customs of Media, Ara- 
bia, Persia, or India, and even farther ; or the Western speech 
and bearing of the pilgrims from Italy, Spain— the modern 
Crimea and the banks of the Danube, if not from yet more strange 
and barbarous lands. It would not be difficult to recognize the 
lineaments of the Jew, nor to perceive that to change one's clime 
was not to change one's mind. As the Jerusalemite would look 
with proud self-consciousness, not unmingled with kindly pa- 
tronage, on the swarms of strangers, yet fellow countrymen, or, 
with eager-eyed Galilean, stare after them, the pilgrims would, in 
turn, gaze with mingled awe and wonderment on the novel 
scenes. Here was the realization of their fondest dreams, ever 
since childhood the home and spring of their holiest thoughts 
and best hopes, that which gave inward victory to the vanquished 
and converted persecution into anticipated triumph. 

" The}- could, at this season of the year — not during the win- 
ter, for the Passover, nor yet quite so readily in summer's heat 
for Pentecost. But now in the delicious cool of early autumn, 
when all harvest operations, the gathering in of luscious fruit 
and the vintage were past, and the first streaks of gold were 
tinting the foliage, strangers from afar off and countrymen from 
Judea, Perea and Galilee would mingle in the streets of Jerusa- 
lem, under the ever-present shadow of that glorious sanctuary of 



324 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

marble, cedar wood and gold up there on high Moriah, symbol of 
the infinitely more glorious overshadowing presence of him who 
was the holy one in the midst of Israel. How all day long, even 
till the stars lit up the blue canopy overhead, the smoke of the 
burning sacrifices rose in slowly widening column and hung be- 
tween the Mount of Olives and Zion ; how the chants of Levites 
and the solemn responses of the Hallel were borne on the breeze, 
while the clear blast of the priest's silver trumpet ascends to 
waken the echoes far away, and then at night how all these vast 
temple buildings stood out, illuminated by the great candelabras 
that burned in the Court of the Women, and by the glare of 
torches ; when strange sounds of mystic hymns and dances 
came floating over the intervening darkness, truly well might Is- 
rael designate the feast of tabernacles as 'the feast,' and, indeed, 
the Jewish historian describes it as the ' holiest and greatest.' 

"Early on the 14th of Tishri (corresponding to our September 
or early October) all the festive pilgrims had arrived. Then it 
was, indeed, a scene of bustle and activity. Hospitality had 
to be sought and found ; guests to be welcomed and entertained ; 
all things required for the feast to be got ready. Above all, 
booths must be erected everywhere — in courts and on house- 
tops, in streets and squares, for the lodgment and entertainment 
of that vast multitude -leafy dwellings everywhere to remind of 
the wilderness journey, and now of the goodly land. But that 
fierce castle, Antonia, which frowned above the temple, was un- 
decked by the festive spring into which the whole land had burst. 
To the Jew it must have been a hateful sight. That castle which 
guarded and dominated his own city and temple, — hateful sight 
and sounds that, that Roman garrison with its foreign, heathen, 
ribald speech and manners. Yet, for all this, Israel could not 
read on the lowering skies the signs of the times, nor yet know 
the day of their merciful visitation ; and this, though of all fes- 
tivals, that of tabernacles should have most clearly pointed them 
to the future. 

" Indeed, the whole symbolism of the feast, beginning with the 
completed harvest, for which it was a thanksgiving, pointed to 
the future. The Rabbis themselves admitted this. The strange 
number of sacrificial bullocks— seventy in all— they regarded as 
referring to the seventy nations of heathendom. The ceremony 



THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 325 

of the outpouring of water, which was considered of such vital 
importance as to give to the whole festival the name of 'the 
house of outpouring,' was symbolical of the outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit. As the brief night of the great temple illumination 
closed, there was solemn testimony made before Jehovah against 
heathenism. It must have been a stirring scene when, from out 
the mass of Levites, with their musical instruments, who crowded 
the fifteen .steps that led from the Court of Israel to that of the 
women, stepped two priests with their silver trumpets. As the 
first cock-crowing indicated the dawn of morn, they blew a three- 
fold blast, another on the tenth step, and yet another three-fold 
blast as they entered the Court of the Women. And still sound- 
ing their trumpets, they marched through the Court of the Women 
to the beautiful gate. Here, turning round and facing westward 
to the Holy Place, they repeated : ' Our fathers, who were in this 
place, they turned their backs on the sanctuary of Jehovah, and 
their faces eastward, for they worshipped eastward toward the 
sun ; but we, our eyes, are toward Jehovah.' ' We are Jehovah's 
—our eyes are toward Jehovah.' Nay, the whole of this night 
and morning scene was symbolical ; the temple illumination of 
the light which was to shine from out the temple into the dark 
night of heathendom ; then at the first dawn of morn the blast of 
the priest's silver trumpets of the army of God as it advanced 
with festival trumpet sound and call, to awaken the sleepers, 
marching on to quite the utmost bounds of the sanctuary, to the 
beautiful gate, which opened upon the Court of the Gentiles, and 
then again facing round to utter solemn protest against heathen- 
ism and make solemn confession of Jehovah." 

Jesus had tarried in Galilee until all had departed, and 
then had followed them and suddenly appeared in the 
temple, at the feast. There had already been inquiry for 
him. From the healing of the impotent man at the pool 
of Bethesda until this time he had not appeared in the 
city of David, but had taught and worked in Galilee. 
"Where is he?" the Jews asked, as they sought him. 
And there was much murmuring among the people con- 
cerning him; some saying, u He is a good man;" others. 



326 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

c ' Nay, but he deceiveth the people. ' ' But none spoke 
openly, for fear of the Jews. " In the midst of the feast 
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. ' ' What he 
said is not recorded, but the effect of his words upon the 
Jews is seen from the words, ' ' How knoweth this man 
letters, having never learned?" The reply of Jesus was 
that his doctrine was not his own, but his who sent 
him ; that if any man would do his will he too would 
understand his teaching; that such would know whether 
it was of God, or whether he spoke of himself; that he 
who speaks for himself seeks his own glory, but that he 
who seeks the glory of him who sent him, is true, and 
there is no unrighteousness in him. 

At this very time when he was claiming that there was 
no unrighteousness in him, there were hanging over his 
head two accusations: the charge of open defiance of the 
laws of Moses, and the breach of the law regarding the 
Sabbath. But from this self-defence Jesus advances to 
an open attack upon the accusing Jews. He charges 
them with having rejected Moses, whom they claimed to 
honor, for they do not keep his law. As a proof of this, 
he exposes their secret intention to kill him, and boldly 
demands a reason for their murderous design. Their re- 
ply is evasive and insulting. u Thou hast a devil, who 
goeth about to kill thee? ' ' But Jesus calmly proceeds, — 
You condemn me because I did a work of healing on the 
Sabbath. Moses gave you the law of circumcision, and you 
circumcise a child on the Sabbath day without deeming 
it a violation of the law, but when I make a man whole 
on the Sabbath day you condemn me. " Every argu- 
ment which had been urged in favor of the postponement 
of Christ's healing to the week-day would apply equally 
well to that of circumcision; while every reason that 



THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 327 

could be urged in favor of Sabbath circumcision would 
tell a hundred-fold in favor of the act of Christ." 
Jesus added, "Judge not according to the appearance, 
but judge righteous judgment." 

Some of the Jews at Jerusalem expressed their aston- 
ishment that Jesus, whom the rulers sought to kill, 
should be permitted, unmolested, to speak boldly in the 
temple; and they asked, " Do the rulers know that this 
is the very Christ ? ' ' But the skeptical answer came, 
"We know this man whence he is; but when Christ 
cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." Here again 
they had fallen into an erroneous impression, created by 
their false teachers. And Jesus, lifting up his voice so 
that the people throughout the temple could hear, cried: 
1 ' Ye both know me and whence I am : and I am not 
come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye 
know not." Then they sought to arrest him, but no 
man laid hands on him, ' ' because his hour was not yet 
come. ' ' Many of the people believed and said, ' ' When 
Christ cometh will he do more miracles?" When the 
Pharisees and the chief priests heard that the people said 
these things, they sent officers to arrest him. 

Jesus proceeds to tell the Jews that he would be but a 
little while with them, and then would go away where 
they could not come. They said among themselves, 
Where will he go that we shall not find him? Will he 
go among the Jews dispersed over the earth, or to the 
Gentiles ? What does he mean when he says we shall 
seek but not find him ? And where he is we cannot 
come ? But the words of Christ were prophetic con- 
cerning his death and departure to the Father. From 
our view point we understand his words in the light of 
the events that followed. 



328 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IyXIII. 

TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE. 
John vii. 37 — viii. 1-59. — Jerusalem, a.d. 29. 

IT was "the last, the great day of trie feast," and 
Jesus was again in trie temple. The day was 
marked by special observances. The people left 
their booths at daybreak to take part in the services. The 
pilgrims were all in festive array and carried each in his 
right hand the L,ulabh, which ' ' consisted of a myrtle 
and a willow branch, tied together, with a palm branch 
between them." The Ethrog, or Paradise apple, a 
species of citron, was carried in the left hand. The 
multitude thus arrayed were divided into two bands. 
One company started in procession from the temple, to 
the sound of music, led by a priest who bore a golden 
pitcher, bound for the pool of Siloam. This pool was at 
the merging of the Tyropcean into the Kedron valley, in 
the southeastern angle of Jerusalem, and within the city 
walls. It was fed by a living spring farther up in the 
narrower part of the Kedron valley, which bears the 
name of "the Virgin's Fountain," but represents the 
ancient En-rogel and Gihon. Its overflow feeds a lower 
pool. The pool of Siloam was the same as the King's 
pool, "made by King Hezekiah in order to divert from 
the besieging army the spring of Gihon, which could 
not be brought within the city wall, and yet to bring its 
waters within the city. This explains the origin of the 
name Siloam, 'sent' — a conduit." 

At the pool of Siloam the priest filled his pitcher, and 






TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE. 329 

the procession then returned to the temple, where they 
arrived just as the pieces of the sacrifice were being laid 
on the altar of burnt offering : A three-fold blast of the 
priest's trumpet welcomed the arrival of the priest as he 
entered through the water gate which derived its name 
from this ceremony, and passed into the court of the 
priests. 

" Here he was joined by another priest, who carried the wine 
for the drink-offering. The two priests ascended the rise of the 
altar, and turned to the left. There were two silver funnels here, 
with narrow openings leading down to the base of the altar. In- 
to that at the east, which was somewhat wider, the wine was 
poured, and at the same time the water into the western, and 
narrower opening, the people shouting to the priest to raise his 
hand, so as to make sure that he poured the water into the fun- 
nel. Immediately after ' the pouring of the water ' the great 
hallil, consisting of Psalms cxii. to cxviii. inclusive, was 
chanted with responses to the accompaniment of the flute. As 
the Levites intoned the first line of each Psalm, the people re- 
peated it, while to each of the other lines they responded. As 
they repeated the words they shook towards the altar the ' Lu- 
labh ' which they held in their hands, as if with this token of 
the past to express the reality and cause of their praise and to 
remind God of his promises. It is this moment which should be 
kept chiefly in view." 

Edersheim, continuing, says : 

11 We can have little difficulty in determining at what part of 
the services of the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood 
and cried : ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' 
It must have been with special reference to the ceremony of the 
outpouring of the water, which, as we have seen, was considered 
the central part of the service. Moreover, all would understand 
that his words must refer to the Holy Spirit, since the rite was 
universally regarded as symbolical of this outpouring. The out- 
pouring of the water was immediately followed by the chanting 
of the hallel. But after that there must have been a short pause, 



330 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



to prepare for the festive sacrifices. It was then, immediately 
after the symbolical rite of water-pouring, immediately after the 
people had responded by repeating those lines from Psalm cxviii, 
given thanks and prayed that Jehovah would send salvation and 




pooi, of sii,oam. 



prosperity, and had shaken the lulabh towards the altar, thus 
praising with heart and mouth and hands, and when silence had 
fallen upon them— that there arose, so loud as to be heard through 
the temple, the voice of Jesus. He interrupted not the services, 



TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE. 331 

for they had for the moment ceased. He interpreted and he ful- 
filled them." 

There was a division among the people about him. 
Many of the people said, when they heard his words, 
"This is the prophet." Others said, "This is the 
Christ." But some ignorantly queried, "Shall Christ 
come out of Galilee ? Hath not the scriptures said that 
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town 
of Bethlehem?" Thus unknowingly they testified in 
his favor. Some would have arrested him, but no one 
did it. The officers who had been sent to arrest him, 
returned without him to the Pharisees and chief priests, 
saying, ' ' Never man spake as this man. ' ' Are you, too, 
deceived by him ? they asked. Have any of the rulers 
or the Pharisees believed on him ? The people are cursed 
by their ignorance. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by 
night, was one of the council, and timidly pleaded 
' ' Doth our law judge any man before it hear him ? ' ' 
But he was quickly silenced by the sneering question, 
' ' Art thou also of Galilee ? Search and look ; for out 
of Galilee ariseth no prophet. " u And every man went 
to his own house ; and Jesus went to the Mount of 
Olives." 

Early next morning Jesus was in the temple where he 
sat down and -taught the people who came to him. The 
scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in 
adultery. Tempting him, they said, "Master, Moses, 
in the law, commands us that such should be stoned ; 
but what sayest thou?" Jesus stooped down, and with 
his finger silently wrote in the loose sand on the floor. 
When they persisted in their questioning he rose and 
answered, "He that is without sin among you let him 
first cast a stone at her. ' ' And again he stooped down 



332 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

and silently wrote on the ground. Abashed and con- 
victed by their own conscience, the accusers went out 
one by one, leaving Jesus and the woman standing in 
the midst of the people. Again looking up, Jesus said, 
" Woman, where are thine accusers? Hath no man 
condemned thee?" She said, "No man, Lord." 
"Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more." 
Jesus did not mean to teach us that such sin ever goes 
uncondemned by him, but he came as the Saviour of 
sinners, and he can forgive and cleanse even the vilest. 

Jesus then proceeded to proclaim himself the light of 
the world, and when evidence was demanded, he an- 
swered that his own testimony was sufficient, but to this 
was added his Father's testimony. When asked where 
his Father was, he replied that, had they known him 
they would have known his Father also. These words 
were uttered in the treasury of the temple, and no man 
arrested him, because his hour was not yet come. Again, 
he declares that he is from above, and tells them that 
they shall die in their sins, unless they believe on him, 
and plainly proclaims to them that he is the Son of God 
and the Judge of the world, as he had told them from 
the beginning. Announcing his death by the cross, he 
says that they will know him, who he is, and where he 
is from, when he is lifted up. Many of* the Jews be- 
lieve > and he exhorts them to continue in his word, that 
they may be his disciples indeed. The truth would 
make them free. Some were offended at this, and de- 
clared that they were Abraham's children, and hence 
never were in bondage. But he tells them that to com- 
mit sin is to be the slave of sin, and declares that the 
true children of Abraham are not his natural descend- 
ants, but whose who have the same faith. Not the ser- 



TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE. 333 

vant, but the Son has permanent authority in the house ; 
" If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be 
free indeed." 

Again he tells them that they seek to kill him, be- 
cause he had told them the truth. If they were Abra- 
ham's children, they would do the works of Abra- 
ham, but they do the works of their father, the devil, 
who was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. If 
they were of God they would hear God's words. They 
answered, u Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan 
and hast a devil?" Jesus calmly answers, u If a man 
keep my sayings, he shall never see death." They re- 
plied, ' ' Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham 
is dead, and the prophets ; and thou sayest that if a man 
keep my sayings he shall never taste death. Art thou 
greater than our father Abraham, who is dead ? Whom 
makest thou thyself?" Jesus said, "Your father 
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was 
glad." Abraham had rejoiced in the coming day of 
Christ, but the Jews took it as if Jesus had said that he 
had seen Abraham, and asked him ; " Thou art not yet 
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" With 
this Jesus declares his divine existence from eternity ; 
"I say unto you before Abraham was, I am." These 
profound words, " I am," were understood as an avowal 
of deity, for this was the name of the one true God, and 
hence they took up stones to stone him to death. But 
Jesus " hid himself and went out of the temple," going 
through the midst of them, and so escaped their fury. 



334 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

THE SEVENTY SENT FORTH. 

I/uke x. 1-24. — Jerusalem, Judea, a.d. 29. 

OME months had elapsed since Jesus appointed 



s 



the twelve and sent them forth to preach and 
work miracles in his name. Jesus now selects 
from among his disciples attending the feast at Jerusalem 
seventy persons, whom he " sent out two and two before 
his face, into every city, and place, whither he himself 
would come." Why he should have selected this num- 
ber there have been various conjectures. Some have 
thought that it was to correspond to the number of the 
Sanhedrin, or to the seventy elders of Israel on whom 
the Spirit descended in the wilderness. But the most 
probable view is that as the twelve persons sent forth rep- 
resented the twelve tribes of Israel to whom alone they 
were sent, so the seventy represented the supposed 
seventy Gentile nations of the world, and this sending 
forth of the seventy missionaries signified that the gos- 
pel was universal, to be carried to all men and nations, 
and that the time had now come to begin the work of 
gathering the nations to Christ. The reason that he 
gives for sending this large number is that the harvest 
is great and the laborers few. They were not only re- 
quired to go, but must pray the I^ord of the harvest for 
more laborers. 

The work of Jesus was not done, though but little time 
remained in which it was to be accomplished. Hence 
he sent them into the countries and cities that he meant 






THE SE VENTY SENT FOR TH. 335 

himself to visit. The ministry of our Lord had been 
chiefly in Galilee, and hence it is more than probable 
that these disciples confined their labors to regions where 
Christ had not spent much, if any, of his time. It was 
for the briefest period that he meant to be in Samaria 
and Galilee, but the most of his remaining work, outside 
of Jerusalem, was confined to Judea and Perea. It is 
quite likely that the missionary operations of the seventy 
were in some parts of Judea, and mainly in populous 
Perea. In traversing the valley of the Jordan they would 
meet many travelers, both Jews and Gentiles. 

The power bestowed on the seventy was not so great as 
that bestowed on the twelve, nor were they to meet with 
persecutions such as were encountered by the twelve. 
Their instructions were mainly different from those 
given to the twelve. They were to go forth as lambs 
among wolves ; they were to provide no support for 
themselves, but to live by the gospel ; they were to salute 
no man by the way ; they were to command the peace of 
God upon the household that received them ; were to 
abide with the worthy, and were to eat in contentment 
such things as were set before them ; they were to heal 
the sick ; to preach that the kingdom of heaven had 
come nigh ; and to shake off the dust against any city or 
house rejecting them. Dr. W. M. Thomson says : 

" There is such an amount of insincerity, flattery and falsehood 
in the terms of salutation, prescribed by etiquette, that our Lord, 
who is truth itself, desired his representatives to dispense with 
them as far as possible ; perhaps, tacitly to rebuke them. These 
instructions were also intended to reprove another propensity 
which an Oriental can scarcely resist. No matter how urgent 
his business, if he meets an acquaintance he must stop and make 
an endless number of inquiries and answer as many. The com- 
mand of our Saviour strictly forbade all such loiterings." 



336 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



As to the city that rejected them, or refused to receive 
their word, Jesus says that it shall be more tolerable in 
the day of judgment for Sodom than for that city. Those 
who would not hear them, despised and rejected him. 
Then he again upbraided those cities in which his 
mighty works were done, because they did not repent 
and believe ; and again pronounced the woe of doom 
against Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. 

"It appears from the Lord's sending of the seventy that all 
personal efforts and public movements for extending the truth 
and increasing righteousness in the world are really parts of his 
work, and are dependent on his spiritual power. Christendom, 
everywhere, is full of beneficent activities. They are philan- 
thropic, educational, sanitary, reformatory, missionary. Some- 
times they scarcely recognize, and oftener they fail to praise with 
conscious and explicit gratitude the Great Fountain from which 
they spring, the ever-present Leader who inspires and sends 
them ; but none the less are they the merciful emanations of the 
one great central, mighty and missionary Heart, which has 
brought the love of heaven into the dwellings of man." 

While Jesus was in Jerusalem, or its vicinity, the 
seventy whom he had sent out returned to him, and, like 
the twelve, filled with joy because the demons were sub- 
ject to them through his name. Jesus then declares to 
them that he in prophetic vision beheld Satan fall like a 
lightning flash from his lofty throne, and that the entire 
kindom of evil was shaken. However, they were not to 
rejoice that evil spirits were subject to them, but rather 
that their names were written in heaven. Jesus then 
gave thanks to his Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, 
that he had hid the things of salvation from the wise and 
prudent, according to this world's estimate, and in their 
own eyes, and had revealed them, according to his own 
good pleasure, unto babes — that is, those who are hum- 
ble and teachable. 



THE SEVENTY SENT FORTH. 



337 



He then declares that all things are delivered to 
him by the Father. No man knows the Son but 
the Father, and no one knows the Father but the 
Son, and "he to whom the Son will reveal him." 
Then he says to them privately : ' ' Blessed are the eyes 
that see the things that ye see ; for I tell you that many 
prophets and kings have desired to see the things that 
ye see and have not seen them ; and to hear the things 
that ye hear, and have not heard them." By this he 
means that the days of the Messiah on earth were the 
glorious days in the eyes of all pious Jews who lived in 
former times, but who, through faith, longed for and 
hoped to see — as did Simeon and Anna in the temple — 
the day of God's promised salvation. This coveted priv- 
ilege had fallen to the lot of these disciples who now saw 
his wonderful works and heard his equally wonderful 
words. 



- • 




WOMEN GRINDING. 



*5 



338 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvXV. 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 
IyUKE x. 25-42 ; xi. 1-13.— Judea, Bethany, a.d. 29. 

A CERTAIN lawyer presented at this time this im- 
portant inquiry; "What shall I do to inherit 
eternal life ? ' ' Jesus asked him what was writ- 
ten in the law which he had made a study; and he re- 
plied; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
with all thy .mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus 
said to him, ' ' Thou hast answered right. This do and 
thou shalt live. ' ' This man we are told, tempted Jesus 
with this question, and yet he answered wisely in bring- 
ing together two widely separated texts — the first in 
Deuteronomy and the second in Leviticus — which con- 
tain in substance all the moral law, and are the same that 
Jesus afterwards used, and declared that they contain all 
the law and the prophets. There seems to have been 
some degree of sincerity about this man, and Jesus an- 
swered him kindly. But the lawyer thought to show 
how much he knew and how good he was; so he asked 
another question ; "Who is my neighbor ? " Jesus an- 
swered by relating the parable of the Good Samaritan. 
His design in relating this parable was first to prove to 
this lawyer that true charity required more than he 
supposed, and then to teach all men the nature and ex- 
tent of brotherly love. 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 339 

"The road from Jerusalem to Jericho passes through the heart 
of the eastern division of the wilderness of Judea, and runs for a 
considerable distance along the abrupt and winding sides of a 
deep and rocky ravine, offering the greatest facilities for con- 
cealment and attack. From the number of robberies committed 
in it the Jews of old called it ' The Bloody Road,' and it retained its 
character well. We traveled it, guarded by a dozen Arabs, who 
told of an English party that, the year before, had been attacked, 
and plundered and stripped ; and we were kept in constant alarm 
by the scouts sent out beforehand announcing the distant sight 
of dangerous-looking Bedouins. All the way from Bethany to 
the Plain of the Jordan is utter solitude." 

"Jericho was a city of priests, as well as of publicans. The 
Talmudists tell us that there were almost as many priests there 
as at Jerusalem itself ; so that it is a stroke from life to introduce 
in the parable of the Samaritan the priest and the Levite as 
passing exactly along that road which led from one of the cities 
where they dwelt to the other, where their duties called them." 

" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho 
and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his rai- 
ment and wounded him, departed, and leaving him half 
dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that 
way; and when he saw him he passed by on the other 
side, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, 
came and looked on him, and passed by on the other 
side." Doubtless this wounded man was a Jew, and 
here are Jewish servants of the temple, the teachers and 
leaders of their religion, and the interpreters for the peo- 
ple of that law which required them to help a brother to 
raise an ox or an ass that fell by the way, and not to hide 
from one needing help; these men, without any mercy 
or compassion, leave the unfortunate man to perish. 

"But a certain Samaritan,"— a man of that half- 
heathen race, so despised and hated of the Jews, — "as he 
journeyed came where the wounded man was; and when 



3 40 THE £TOR Y OF JESUS. 

he saw him he had compassion on him, and bound up 
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his 
own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of 
him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took 
out two pence, ' ' the purchasing value of which would be 
about two dollars of our money, and gave them to the 
host and said to him : ' ' Take care of him, and whatsoever 
thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay 
thee." "Which now of these three," asked Jesus, 
"thinkest thou is neighbor to him that fell among 
thieves ? ' ' And the lawyer answered : ' ' He that showed 
mercy on him. ' ' Then said Jesus, ' ' Go and do thou 
likewise." 

Jesus reverses the question of the lawyer. He 
asked, who is the neighbor to whom I am to show 
the services of love ? But the L,ord tells him that he 
who shows love is a neighbor. The truth Christ teaches 
is that a fellow-mortal — friend or foe — in need is our 
neighbor and our brother. ' ' That is true human charity 
that shows itself in prompt, efficient, self-forgetful, self- 
sacrificing help. It is not those who will weep the 
readiest over the sorrow who will do the most to relieve 
it." This law of love is violated, and the example 
of the priest and the L,evite is followed, when men on 
the land, or on the sea, will pass unheeding a human cry 
of distress or a call for help. 

Jesus is himself the Good Samaritan, who came to save 
the needy. ' ' Beautiful as this parable is, when taken 
simply according to the letter, and full of incentives to 
active mercy and love, bidding us to be kind and tender- 
hearted, yet how much lovelier still when we trace in it 
a deeper meaning, and see the work of the merciful Son 
of man himself portrayed to us here. ' ' 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 341 

The first visit to Bethany and to the home of Martha 
and Mary occurred at this time. ' ' He entered into a 
certain village, and a certain woman named Martha re- 
ceived him into her house." Dr. Butler says: 

"The three months from the feast of the tabernacles to that of 
dedication— September to December— were spent in Jerusalem. 
During this period we are first introduced to the family of Beth- 
any, where Jesus found the most restful and homelike tarrying- 
place that he seems to have enjoyed. Situated on the eastern 
slope of the Mount of Olives, in distance scarcely three-quarters 
of an hour's walk from Jerusalem, it offered a convenient and 
agreeable place of occasional quiet retreat from all other human 
companionship, even that of his disciples. This Bethany cottage 
on the eastern slope of Olivet, and the more familiar garden of 
Gethsemane on the western, were his two chief resting-places 
near Jerusalem.'' 

Of these two sisters, Martha seems to have been at the 
head of the house, and probably the older. The family 
consisted of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, their brother, 
and must have been in easy circumstances and of some 
note. Martha, busy preparing the entertainment for her 
Lord, seems somewhat vexed that Mary sits at the feet of 
Jesus communing with him, while she is doing the ser- 
vice of the household. She even reflects upon Jesus for 
allowing it. But Jesus gently rebukes Martha and com- 
mends Mary. l ' Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 
troubled about many things; but one thing is needful; 
and Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be 
taken away from her. ' ' It is well for us if we can learn 
that there is one thing needful, and combine the thrift of 
Martha with the devotion of Mary. 

It was near Bethany, or Jerusalem, in one of his usual 
places of prayer, and after he had spent a time in devo- 
tion, that his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to 



THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 



343 



pray, as John also taught his disciples." He then re- 
peated for them, again, substantially what is called the 
Lord's Prayer. He also encourages them to prayer, by 
the parable of the man who went at midnight to his 
friend, to borrow three loaves of bread, to feed a 
friend who had come on a long journey to visit him. 
His request was at first refused, because his friend within 
Was in bed and the door was shut; but finally he obtained 
all he wanted, because he was so urgent in his appeal. 
Much more will prayer avail with your Father in heaven. 
Besides, an earthly father would not give his son a stone 
for bread, or a serpent for a fish, or a scorpion for an egg. 
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? ' ' 




THE FATTED CAI,F. 



344 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



i 



CHAPTER IvXVI. 

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED. 
Luke xi. 14 — xiii. 1-9. — Judea, a.d. 29. 

N the following record, according to L,uke, we shall 
find many truths and illustrations which our Sa- 
viour used on other occasions. 
Says Dr. G. W. Clark : 

" It will be seen what havoc the principle that Jesus never re- 
peated his doctrine would make if strictly carried out. It is 
much better and wiser to regard this chapter as a fine illustra- 
tion of the manner in w r hich Jesus used the same truths on dif- 
ferent occasions and in different trains of thought." 

Jesus cured a demoniac who was both blind and dumb, 
so that when the demon had gone out, the dumb spake 
and the blind saw. The people wondered, but some re- 
peated the old charge against him: "He casteth out 
devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils." 
And others, tempting him, demanded a sign from heaven 
to prove his claims to the Messiahship. But Jesus an- 
swered them as he had done before, that a kingdom 
divided against itself could not stand, thus showing the 
absurdity of their accusation. A woman who was pres- 
ent was evidently so much struck with the admirable an- 
swer that Jesus made, that she broke forth into praise of 
the woman who had been privileged to be his mother — 
the mother of the Messiah. But Jesus, with no want of 
loving regard for his mother, said, ' ' Yea, rather blessed 
are they that hear the word of God and keep it." 

When the people were gathered together he answered 



HYPOCRISY EXPOSED. 



345 



them who sought a sign from him, saying, ' ' An evil 
generation seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given them 
save the sign of the prophet Jonah ;" by which he again 
refers to his death and resurrection. The men of Nine- 
veh who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the 
queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wisdom of Solo- 
mon, would condemn this people in the judgment, be- 
cause they had rejected one greater than Solomon. 
' ' Christ tells them that they will not see the significance 
of his teaching and miracles because they shut the eyes 
of their understanding which should be the light of the 
soul ; this is set before them in a parable concerning the 
light of the body, which is the outward eye." Jesus 
tells of the case of the evil spirit cast out, who returns 
to take possession again of the soul, with greater power 
for evil. 

While he was thus teaching, a Pharisee invited him to 
dine with him — perhaps we would call it breakfast, for 
the Jews, like the Romans and Greeks, had two meals a 
day, — one about ten o'clock, consisting mostly of fruits, 
and the other and principal meal at about three o'clock 
in the afternoon. This invitation was to the first meal. 
Jesus accepted and reclined at table. • But the Pharisee 
wonders that his guest has omitted a traditional cere- 
mony. Jesus had been among a crowd of people and 
certainly had been touched by them, and this would ren- 
der him unclean, unless he washed his hands before dip • 
ping his fingers in the common dish and eating with 
them as was customary. 

But Jesus, knowing his thoughts, seizes this op- 
portunity to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. 
He tells them that God made the soul as well as 
the body ; and that while they were very particu- 

15* 



346 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

lar about outward things — to have the cup and plate 
clean — their inner part was full of ravening and wicked- 
ness. He tells them to use their unjust gains to make 
restitution and to supply the necessities of the poor. He 
pronounces a woe upon them because they are so partic- 
ular about paying tithes as their religion demanded, in 
small things such as giving a tenth ' ' of mint and rue, 
and all manner of herbs ;" but pass over judgment and 
the love of God, forgetting to be just to men and rever- 
ential to God. Jesus emphasizes the spiritual nature of 
religion. It was well to give tithes of all things, but 
not to neglect weightier matters. He also rebukes them 
for loving the "uppermost seats in the synagogues and 
greetings in the markets," and declares that they are 
like the graves that appear not, over which men walk, 
unconscious of the corruption that lies buried under- 
neath. 

One of the lawyers present remonstrated ; ' ' Master, 
thou reproachest us also." Jesus at once pronounces 
a woe upon his class ; for putting grievous relig- 
ious burdens upon others that they were unwilling 
to bear themselves ; for building the sepulchres of the 
prophets whom their fathers had killed, and whose deeds 
they repeated. ' ' Therefore also saith the wisdom of 
God," by which Jesus means the Scriptures, "I will 
send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they 
shall persecute and slay ; that the blood of all the 
prophets which was shed from the foundation of the 
world, may be required of this generation ; from the 
blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, who perished 
between the altar and the temple ; verily I say unto you, 
it shall be required of this generation." And God did 
require it from the people of Jesus' day, because they 



HYPOCRISY EXPOSED. 347 

rejected his Son and put him to death. It was custom- 
ary among the Jews to give a key to scribes or lawyers, 
as a symbol that they had authority to interpret and 
teach the law and the prophets ; and Jesus accuses the 
lawyers of taking away the key of knowledge, the true 
knowledge of the Scriptures, and refusing to enter them- 
selves or to let others enter. 

His teaching stirred up the scribes and Pharisees 
against him. They questioned him ' ' vehemently, ' ' and 
lying in wait for him, tried to provoke him to speak in 
such a way as to enable them to accuse him. In the 
meantime the crowd grew greater about him, so that the 
people trod one upon another, and he began to say to his 
disciples first of all: "Beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." It would yet be ex- 
posed. What they had spoken secretly would be known 
abroad. My friends, continued Jesus, be not afraid of 
them that kill the body. Fear him who has power to 
cast into hell. Five sparrows are sold for two farthings, 
and yet these almost valueless birds are not forgotten of 
God. Ye are of more value than many of these, and the 
very hairs of your head are all numbered. It is neces- 
sary to confess me before men, he says, if you wish not 
to be denied before my Father in heaven. He that speaks 
against the Son of man shall be forgiven ; but he that 
blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit shall never be par- 
doned. When they bring you into synagogues and be- 
fore magistrates and powers, take no thought as to what 
ye shall say, for the Holy Spirit shall give you words of 
utterance. 

While he was addressing his disciples thus, he was in- 
terrupted by one of the people, who said: "Master, 
speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with 



348 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

me." But Jesus refused to interfere in such matters, 
disclaiming the thought that he was a judge in temporal 
things. He rebuked the man, saying, ' ' Beware of 
covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abun- 
dance of the things which he possesses." He enforced 
this thought with the parable of the rich fool, whose 
land brought forth so plentifully that he had no place to 
stow the harvest ; so, instead of distributing it to the 
poor and needy, he determined to pull down his barns 
and build greater, and then say to his soul, u Soul, thou 
hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, 
eat, drink and be merry." But God said, " Thou fool, 
this night thy soul shall be required of thee ; then whose 
shall those things be which thou hast provided ? " So 
is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich 
toward God. 

Again addressing his disciples, he continued, "There- 
fore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what 
ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put 
on." Take no anxious thought, life is more than food, 
and the body than the clothes it wears. The 
ravens neither sow nor reap, have neither store-house 
nor barn ; yet the Lord feedeth them. How much bet- 
ter you are than the fowls ! You cannot, by taking 
thought, prolong your life one moment, and if you are 
not able to do that which is least, why take thought for 
the rest ? 

Then Jesus uttered those beautiful words, "Con- 
sider the lilies of the field how they grow : they 
toil not, neither do they spin, yet I say unto you that 
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day 
in the field and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how 



HYPOCRISY EXPOSED. 349 

much more will he clothe you, O, ye of little faith ! 
And seek not ye what ye shall eat or what ye shall 
drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind, for all these 
things do the nations of the world seek after ; and your 
Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But 
rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things 
shall be added unto you." He further admonished 
them to "fear not," though but a "little flock;" to 
sell all and give alms ; to provide unfailing treasure in 
heaven ; to have their loins girded about, and their 
lamps trimmed and burning like men watching for their 
Lord's return. Blessed are the servants found watching. 
1 ' Be ye ready also ; for the Son of man cometh at an 
hour when ye think not." 

Jesus had spoken first to his disciples, and then to the 
multitude, so now Peter asks him whether this parable 
was meant for the apostles or for all. Jesus answers him 
indirectly and by a question. It is, of course, to them 
first as his servants, to stewards of the household, but to 
all generally in his house. It becomes all to be faithful 
and wise. The servant that knew his Lord's will and 
did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. The faith- 
ful and obedient servant who watches for his Lord will 
be rewarded. But the servant who lords it over God's 
heritage — who lives an outrageous life regardless of 
God's benefits — will be cut off with the unbelievers. 
He told them that he had come to send fire on earth, to 
destroy and purify ; that he had a baptism to be bap- 
tized with ; that he came to cause divisions on the earth 
and to divide households ; that as they discerned the 
signs of the weather, so they should ' ' discern this 
time ; " that as they could wisely agree with an adver- 
sary, when in the wrong, before reaching the magistrate 



350 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

and being hopelessly committed to prison, so they 
should exercise repentance before God and accept his 
Son before it was forever too late. 

There were present at this time some who told Jesus 
of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with 
their sacrifices. We know nothing of this occurrence 
save what is here said ; but we can readily see how, by 
the order of Pilate, the Roman garrison, who occupied 
the tower of Antonia, overlooking the temple court, 
could rush down the connecting flight of steps and sup- 
press any disturbance that threatened the peace of Jeru- 
salem, and falling upon the Galilean worshipers with 
the sword, the blood of the victims would flow with that 
of the sacrifices that had been offered. But Jesus cor- 
rected the impression of the Jews that because these 
men were slain they were necessarily greater sinners 
than all other Galileans ; and that those eighteen on 
whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them were sin- 
ners above all the dwellers in Jerusalem. It is true that 
suffering comes of sin. God is not to be blamed for it. 
But often the innocent suffer with the guilty, and we are 
not to judge of personal character by providential dis- 
pensations. 

Sin is the cause of all suffering, but "Whom 
the Lord loveth he chasteneth." Calamities are 
often blessings. Hence these men were not to be 
judged sinners above others because they suffered ; "I 
tell you," said Jesus, "except ye repent ye shall all 
likewise perish." Ye who hear me must repent or 
you will suffer for your sin. These instances are loud 
calls to repentance. And destruction did overtake these 
impenitent Jews. As the tower of Siloam fell and 
crushed some, so multitudes of the dwellers of Jerusa- 



HYPOCRISY EXPOSED. 



35 



lem were crushed and killed beneath the ruins of their 
own city and temple, and during the last siege of the 
city, great numbers were pierced through with Roman 
darts in the courts of the temple while in the act of sac- 
rificing, so that their blood was actually mingled with 
the blood of their sacrifices. 

' ' The previous discourse of Jesus, severe and full of 
rebuke, is here closed by a parable in which the merciful 
Son of man again brings the side of grace prominently 
forward. ' ' He spoke the parable of a fig tree planted in 
a vineyard, from which the owner sought fruit in its 
season, and found none. Then he said to the dresser of 
the vineyard, " Behold, these three years I come seeking 
fruit on this fig tree and find none ; cut it down ; why 
cumbereth it the ground ? But he, answering, said 
unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also till I shall dig 
about it and dung it : and if it bear fruit, well ; and if 
not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Would 
they heed this warning ? 



^ 




THEY AEE BEGAN TO MAKE EXCUSE. 



352 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 
John ix. i — x. 1-42. — Jerusalem, ad. 29. 

S Jesus ' ( passed by " he saw a man who had been 



A 



blind from his birth. His disciples asked whether 
this man's blindness came from his own or his 
parents' sin. Jesus answered, "Neither, but that the 
works of God should be made manifest in him. ' ' He 
said that the time would come when none could work, 
and that he must do God's work while it was day. "As 
long as I am in the world I am the light of the world." 
Jesus spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle and 
anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and told 
him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. He went 
and washed, and came seeing. And it was the Sabbath 
day. His neighbors said, c ' Is not this he that sat and 
begged?" Some replied "It is he," and others said, 
" It is like him." But he said, "lam he." They ask 
him how he was cured, and he told them how and by 
whom, "A man called Jesus." But he could not tell 
them where Jesus then was. They brought him to the 
Pharisees. To them he again stated his cure. Some of 
them said of Jesus, " This man is not of God, because he 
keepeth not the Sabbath day." Others said, " How can 
a man that is a sinner do such miracles ? " When they 
asked the blind man what he had to say, he replied, ' ' He 
is a prophet." 

But the Jews refused to believe that he had been blind 
and had received his sight until they called his parents, 






THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 353 

who said that he was their son, and was born blind, 
but that they knew nothing about how his sight was 
restored. ' ' He is of age, ask him, ' ' they said, for they 
feared the Jews, who had agreed already to put out of 
the synagogue any one who confessed Jesus as the 
Christ. Then they examined the son. " Give God the 
glory ; we know that this man is a sinner. ' ' But he 
answered, "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not : 
one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I 
see. ' ' They asked, ' ' How opened he thine eyes ? ' ' He 
replied: "I have told you already, and ye did not 
hear, wherefore would ye hear it again ? Will ye also 
be his disciples?" Then they reviled him and said, 
u Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We 
know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow, 
we know not from whence he is." The man answered, 
' ' Why, herein is a marvelous thing ; that ye know not 
from whence he is ; yet he hath opened mine eyes ! Now 
we know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man 
be a worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he hear- 
eth. Since the world began was it not heard that any 
man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this 
man were not of God he could do nothing." These 
words were true. Jesus had given the most unmistaka- 
ble proofs of his divine mission ; but the Jews had deter- 
mined beforehand not to receive him, so they answered, 
" Thou wast altogether born in sins ; and dost thou teach 
us ? " And cast him out of the synagogue. 

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and sought him 
and said to him, ' ' Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? ' ' 
He replied, u Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on 
him?" Jesus said, "Thou hast both seen him and he it is 
that talketh to thee." And the man exclaimed, " Lord, 



354 THE STORY of jesus. 

I believe, ' ' and worshiped Jesus. There are those blind 
who can see, and that see who are blind. Eyes may be 
opened to the things of this world that never discern the 
things of the world to come. How highly favored are 
those who, like this man, have eyes to see the beauties of 
nature, and faith to see the glories of the unseen and 
eternal world ! Jesus said that he came into the world 
for judgment that they who see not might see, and that 
they who see might be made blind. The Pharisees asked 
him, ' ' Are we blind also ? ' ' Jesus answered, ( ' If ye 
were blind ye should have no sin ; but now ye say, ' we 
see,' therefore your sin remaineth." Ignorance would 
have excused them, but their boast of knowledge was a 
witness against themselves. 

It was probably on this same occasion that Jesus, 
changing the illustration, proceeded to speak by a para- 
ble of true and false teachers and leaders. He is the 
door of the sheep-fold and there is no other way of en- 
trance into the church save by him. Thieves and rob- 
bers climb over the wall and get in some other way. 
The shepherd enters by the door. He owns the sheep 
and calls them by name. His sheep know his voice and 
he leads them out, going before them, as an eastern 
shepherd always does, and they follow him, but they will 
not follow a stranger. The Jewish teachers seemed not 
to understand what Jesus meant by this parable, but he 
referred to them. They were thieves and robbers, and 
meant to kill and steal, because they refused to enter by 
the door. ' ' By me if any man enter in, he shall be 
saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. I am 
come that they might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly." Jesus likens himself to 
the shepherd and also to the door : "I am the good 



THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 355 

shepherd." As such he was to lay down his life 
voluntarily for the sheep and to take it up again, not 
fleeing as the hireling, but defending the flock from the 
wolf. He knows each one of his sheep and is known by 
them ; he gathers together all his sheep from every coun- 
try into one flock. This he declares is the will of his 
heavenly Father, who knows him and loves him and 
approves his work. These sayings cause a division 
among the Jews respecting him. Some said, ' ' He hath 
a demon and is mad. Why hear ye him ?" Others said, 
These are not the words of him that hath a demon. ' ' Can 
a demon open the eyes of the blind ?" 

It seems that these events occurred in the temple at 
the feast of the dedication, or of the renovation. "This 
festival was instituted by Judseus Maccabeus in the year 
164 B.C. The city and temple were taken by Antiochus 
Epiphanes, in the year 167 B.C. He slew forty thousand 
inhabitants and sold forty thousand more as slaves. In 
addition to this he sacrificed a sow on the altar of burnt 
offerings, and a broth made of this he sprinkled all over 
the temple. The temple and city were recovered three 
years afterward by Judaeus Maccabeus, and the temple 
purified with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony 
continued through eight days, during which Judseus 
presented magnificent victims and celebrated the praise 
of God with hymns and psalms." This festival was cel- 
ebrated not only in the temple, but all over the land, in 
the homes of the people, which were illuminated at 
night, and hence it was called also the feast of lights. 
The celebration of this feast was in winter, beginning on 
the 25th of the month Khislev, which began with the 
new moon, in December. 

Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. It 




(336) 



THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 



THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 



357 



may be that he sought this shelter owing to the inclem- 
ency of the weather. This porch was a colonnade or 
covered way on the eastern side of the temple area, which 
derived its name from the fact that it was built of the 
materials which had formed part of the ancient temple of 
Solomon ; it looked out over the Mount of Olives and 
stood over the vast wall which Solomon had built from 
the valley far below. It was while walking upon the 
variously colored marble floor, and among the great white 
marble columns supporting the cedar roof, that Jesus was 
accosted by the Jews with the accusing question, u How 
long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ 
tell us plainly." As if he were the cause of their doubt. 

Jesus answered, " I told you and ye believed not." He 
then referred to the works he had done in his Father's 
name, which proved that he was the Messiah. Jesus 
had also plainly told them that he was the Son of God. 
They had so understood him and had charged him with 
blasphemy for making the claim. He now tells them 
again, but they did not believe. They believed not be- 
cause they were not his sheep. ' ' My sheep hear my 
voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give 
unto them eternal life ; they shall never perish, neither 
shall any one pluck them out of my hand. My Father 
who gave them me is greater than all, and no man is 
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand ; I and my 
Father are one. ' ' 

At this plain and distinct claim of equality with God 
they took up stones to stone him. But he calmly asked 
them, for which of his many works were they about to 
stone him. But they replied, that it was for none of 
these, but "because thou, being a man, makest thyself 
God." Jesus answered, u Is it not written in your law, 



358 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



I said ye are gods ? If he called them gods, unto whom 
the word of God came,' say ye of him whom the Father 
hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, 
because I said, I am the Son of God ? If I do not the 
works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, though 
ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know 
and believe that the Father is in me and I in him." 
These words had no pacifying effect on them, for they 
again sought to arrest him, but he quietly escaped out of 
their hands and went away again beyond Jordan in 
Perea, where John at first baptized, and there remained 
and taught. Many came to hear him and said, "John 
did no miracle, but all these things that John spake of 
this man were true," and many believed on him. ' It 
seems from this that John's preaching was not forgotten 
after his death; though it seemed to produce little effect 
during his life. Herod could cut off his head, but he 
could'not prevent his words from being remembered. " 




AN EASTERN SHEEPEOI,D. 



JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 359 



CHAPTER L XVIII. 

JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 

John xi. 1-16 ; I,tjkk xiii.-xiv.— Perea, a.d. 30. 

JUDEA and Galilee were now closed against Jesus, 
and he goes to the half-heathen people beyond Jor- 
dan in Perea. Here he is safe and here there is a 
work to be done. He had sent the seventy to prepare 
the way for him, and here he now journeyed and taught. 
Many believed on him. 

He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sab- 
bath. A woman was present who had a spirit of infirm- 
ity eighteen years and was bowed down together and 
could not lift herself up. Jesus laid his hand on her and 
said, ' ' Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity, ' ' 
and immediately she was made straight and praised God. 
But the ruler of the synagogue, because the woman was 
healed on the Sabbath day, was filled with indignation, 
and said that there were six days in which the people 
could come and be healed. "Thou hypocrite," ex- 
claimed Jesus, you loose an ox or an ass from the stall 
and lead it out to water on the Sabbath ; ought not this 
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound these 
eighteen years, to be loosed on the Sabbath ? His ad- 
versaries were all ashamed, and the people rejoiced and 
glorified God. 

He then in his teaching likened the kingdom to the 
growth of the mustard seed, which, from a small seed, 
became a great tree ; and to leaven, which a woman hid 
in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. 



360 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

And as he u went through the cities and villages teach- 
ing, and journeying toward Jerusalem," one asked him, 
" Iyord, are there few that be saved?" He answered, 
' ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for many will 
seek to enter in and shall not be able." He impressed 
upon them the necessity of immediate efforts to over- 
come the obstacles to salvation. Many seek too late, 
when the door is shut. They will say, " Iyord, open 
unto us, we have eaten in thy presence and thou hast 
taught in our streets. ' ' But the L,ord will say, ' ' I know 
you not ; depart ye workers of iniquity. ' ' Then there 
will be mourning when they see Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob in the kingdom, and when many shall come from 
the east and the west, the north and- the south, and 
enter the kingdom, and they themselves shall be shut 
out; some of them who enjoyed the best opportunities 
now would find themselves lost in the end, and some 
who had few privileges would be first. 

The same day some of the Pharisees warned him to 
depart because Herod Antipas, who ruled in Galilee and 
Perea, and who killed John the Baptist, sought to slay 
him. But Jesus replied, "Go ye and tell that fox," 
with all his low cunning and wicked artfulness, that I 
fear him not, and shall continue my work casting out 
demons and curing diseases, until my work is finished, 
the third day from to-day, and then I shall depart. ' ' It 
cannot be," he adds, " that a prophet perish out of Jeru- 
salem." Then he uttered that most touching lamenta- 
tion, u O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the proph- 
ets and stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often 
would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth 
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. 
Behold your house is left unto you desolate ; and verily 



JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 361 

I say unto you, Ye shall not see me until the time come 
when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name 
of the Lord." 

Afterwards he went, by invitation, into the house of 
one of the chief Pharisees, a member of the Sanhedrin, 
probably to eat bread on the Sabbath day. And there 
was present a man who had the dropsy. Jesus asked the 
lawyers and the Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath. But they held their peace ; so he 
healed the man and let him go. Then he asked, 
i 'Which of you, having an ass or an ox fall into a 
pit, will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath 
day?" Again they answered nothing. When Jesus 
saw how those who were invited to dinner chose the 
chief places at the table, he put forth this parable, 
"When thou art bidden to a wedding, sit not down in 
the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou 
be bidden, and he that bade thee come and say to thee, 
Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take 
the lowest room. But go and sit in the lowest room, 
that, when he that bade thee cometh, he may say to 
thee, Friend, go up higher ; then shalt thou have wor- 
ship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee, 
for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he 
that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 

And he said to the Pharisee who had invited him that 
when he made a supper he should not call his friends or 
relatives or brethren or his rich neighbors, lest they 
recompense him by inviting him in return ; but to in- 
vite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind ; for they 
could not recompense him ; but he would be rewarded 
in the resurrection of the just. One of the guests at the 
table, when he heard these things, said, u Blessed is he 
16 



362 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Then 
Jesus related to them the parable of the Great Supper. 
The Jews expected that the new kingdom was to be 
ushered in by a great festival. He tells them that a man 
once made a great supper and invited many, in time for 
them to be ready to come when it was prepared. When 
the time had come he sent his servants to them all, to 
say, ( ' Come, for all things are now ready. ' ' But they 
all began with one consent to make excuse. One had 
bought a piece of ground, and must go and see it. An- 




GO OUT AND COMPEL THEM TO COME IN. 



other had bought a fine yoke of oxen, and he must go 
and try them. Still another had married a wife, and he 
could not come. So all begged to be excused. Then 
the master of the house was angry, and said to his ser- 
vants, "Go quickly into the streets and lanes of, the 
city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the 
halt and the blind." The servants returned, and said, 
t( L,ord, it is done, and still there is room." Then the 



JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 363 

lord commanded them to go out into the highways and 
hedges and bring in the poor laborer and the lone trav- 
eler, and compel them all, regardless of condition, to 
come in, that the house maybe filled, "for none of 
those that were first bidden shall taste of my supper." 
By this parable Jesus meant to teach how dangerous it 
is to reject the gospel as the Jews were doing, for God 
would turn with his gracious offers to the heathen. 

Great multitudes of people were now following him as 
they had done in Galilee and Judea, and he turned and 
said to them, that no one could be his disciple who did 
not love him more than father, mother, wife and chil- 
dren, brothers and sisters, and his own life also, and that 
he must give up all for him. Men must count the cost 
of being his disciples. If a man proposes to build a 
tower, he will first count the cost, and see if he has the 
means to finish it. He would not lay the foundation 
and then have to stop, unable to finish it, and be mocked 
for his failure. A king, going' to war against another, 
would first consider whether he was able with his ten 
thousand men to meet and defeat his adversary with 
twenty thousand ; and if he could not he would send 
messengers to make peace while his adversary was a 
great way off. Jesus means to teach by these examples, 
that in following him, men must be willing to give up 
all. This is the cost, and no one need hope to succeed 
in the Christian life -unless he counts upon this : The 
loss of all things for Christ. The disciple who has lost 
his savor of piety is good for nothing — like the tasteless 
salt. " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 



364 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

THE LOST SHEEP ; THE LOST COIN ; THE LOST SON. 

Luke xv. 1-32.— Perea, a.d. 30. 

IV /f ARK says of Jesus that "the common people 

-LV-L heard him gladly." This is easily explained, 

when we understand the relation between the 

upper and the lower classes, or the rulers and the people ; 

and then observe how friendly Jesus was to the masses, 

the poor and the outcast. This drew them near him 

and made them willing to hear him. 

"The aristocracy of religion looked with hatred and disdain 
on the masses of their own nation, and with bitterness still 
deeper on all men of foreign birth. The ruin of long, disastrous 
years of civil war and foreign domination had covered the land 
with misery. In a land thus doubly afflicted by social proscrip- 
tion, and by ever-increasing social distress, a land of mutual ha- 
treds and wrongs, the suffering multitudes hailed with instinc- 
tive enthusiasm one who, like Jesus, ignored baleful prejudices ; 
taught the sunken and hopeless to respect themselves still, by 
showing them that he, at least, still spoke kindly and hopefully 
to them in all their sinfulness and misery ; and 03^ his looks and 
words, no less than by his acts, seemed to beckon the unfortunate 
together around him as their friend. It must have spread far and 
wide from his first entrance on his ministry that he had chosen a 
publican as one of his inmost circle of disciples, and that he had 
not disdained to mingle with the most forlorn and sunken of the 
nation, even in the friendliness of the table or the cottage. 
From many a windowless hovel where the smoke of the house- 
hold fire made its way out only by the door, and the one earth- 
floored apartment was shared by the wretched family, with the 
fowls, or even the beasts they chanced to own— a hovel in which 



THE LOST SHEEP-LOST COIN LOST SON. 365 

the priest or Rabbi would have died rather than defile himself by 
entering, the story spread how the great Galileean teacher had 
not only entered, but had done so to raise the dying and bless the 
living. All over the land it ran from mouth to mouth that for 
the first time a great Rabbi had appeared, who was no respecter 
of persons, but let himself be anointed by a poor penitent sinner, 
and sat in the booth with a hated publican, and mingled freely 
in the market-place with the crowds whose very neighborhood 
others counted pollution. 

"Hence the multitude who, on his last journey, especiallj*, 
gather around Jesus with friendly sympathy and readiness to re- 
ceive his instructions, were largely composed of the degraded 
and the despised — the ' publicans and the sinners ' from far and 
near. The Rabbis enjoined that a teacher should keep aloof 
from such people, even if one had the worthy design of exhort- 
ing them to read the law, that is, even with the view of reclaim- 
ing them." 

We see now the bearing of the three parables, all 
illustrating the one truth — that Jesus came upon the 
heaven-born mission of seeking and saving the lost. 

When the " publicans and sinners " drew near to hear 
him, and the scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying, 
This man receive th sinners and eateth with them, Jesus 
spoke this parable unto them : What man of you having 
a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them does not leave 
the ninety and nine grazing in the fields and go after the 
lost one until he find it ; and when he finds it, will he 
not gladly carry it home on his shoulder, and then call 
his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him, because the 
lost sheep was found? Likewise there shall be joy in 
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 
ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance. 
You, scribes and Pharisees, elders and rabbis, call your- 
selves righteous and in no need of repentance, and more- 
over you would not stoop to save one of these sinners ; 



366 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

but heaven rejoices over the repentance of the lowliest 
and most sinful of men. 

And again, what woman, having ten pieces of silver, 
if she lose one piece does not light a lamp and sweep over 
the ground floor of her windowless hove], diligently 
searching until she find it, and then call in her neighbors 
to rejoice with her? Even so there is joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over one penitent sinner, and if 
heaven rejoices, how much more should we, when sin- 
ners are saved ? 

Then Jesus relates that chief of parables entitled the 
Prodigal Son. A certain man had two sons. The 
younger of them asked his father for the portion of 
his estate that would come to him— one-half as much 
as the elder son would receive ; and he divided between 
them his living. Not long after the younger son, 
wanting to get away from the wholesome restraints of 
home, gathered together all that belonged to him and 
went into a far country, where he wasted his substance 
in riotous living. When he had spent all, a mighty 
famine arose in the land, and being in want he hired 
himself to a citizen of the country, who sent him into 
his field to tend swine, a most loathsome work to a Jew. 
Here he was neglected and left without food, so that 
he was tempted to eat u the pods of the carob-tree," 
which were the food of the swine, and which were 
eaten by none save, sometimes, by the very poor ; and 
no man gave unto him even any of these to eat. 

When he came to himself he said, How many hired 
servants in my father's house have enough and to spare, 
and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my 
father, and will say, Father, I have sinned against heaven 
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy 






THE PARABLE 




368 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

son ; make me as one of thy hired servants. And he 
arose and came to his father. Bnt when he was a great 
way off his father saw and recognized him, even in his 
wretched condition, and had compassion on him, and ran 
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said, 
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight 
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Bnt the 
father says to his servants, Bring the best robe and put 
it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on 
his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and 
let us eat and make merry, for this my son was dead and 
is alive again ; he was lost and is found. 

But the elder son, who had been in the field, returned 
home while the rejoicing was at its height. Inquiring 
of the servants the meaning of all this, he was told. 
And he was angry and would not go in. His father 
came out and entreated him. He said to his father, 
' ' Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither trans- 
gressed I any time thy commandment, and yet thou 
never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my 
friends ; but as soon as this thy son was come, who hath 
devoured thy substance with harlots, thou hast killed for 
him the fatted calf." And his father replied, " Son, 
thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It 
was meet that we should make merry and be glad ; for 
this thy brother was dead and is alive again ; was lost 
and is found." 

' ' Henceforth it was proclaimed for all ages, beyond the 
possibility of misconception, that in the teaching of 
Jesus, God looks with unspeakably greater favor on the 
penitent humility of the sinner, with his earnest of grati- 
tude and love, than on cold correctness in which the 
heart has no place." 






THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 369 



CHAPTER LXX. 

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
Luke xvi. 1 — xvii. 1-10. — Perea, a.d. 30. 

JESUS delivered the parable of the unjust steward to 
his disciples, yet he seems to have in mind that part 
of the multitude following him that were above the 
poverty-stricken masses in worldly circumstances, and 
who, having had a taste of riches, were striving for more. 
A steward was accused to his master of having wasted, 
by neglect and extravagance, his goods, of which he 
had entire control. He was called to render an account 
of his stewardship, with a view of being discharged. 
The steward said, What shall I do, for my lord takes 
from me the stewardship? I cannot dig, to beg I am 
ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am 
put out of the stewardship they may receive me into 
their houses. So he called to him his lord's tenants, 
who owed him rent, and asked each one how much he 
had agreed to pay. One said, a hundred bottles of oil. 
So the steward said, Take thy bill and sit down, and 
write quickly fifty, instead of one hundred. And he 
said to another, How much do you owe ? and he an- 
swered, A hundred homers of wheat, and he told him to 
alter his writing and make it fifty. Thus the tenants 
became parties to the fraud and would feel indebted to 
the steward. When the lord heard of this he com- 
mended, not his dishonesty, for this he was discharged, 
but his prudence in caring for the future — for his worldly 
wisdom. 

16* 



370 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

The application which our Saviour makes of this 
is, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of 
unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you 
into the everlasting habitations. ' ' Jesus holds up to his 
disciples the foresight of this unfaithful steward, and 
teaches them to be as wise in spiritual matters, and to 
provide for the soul in spiritual things by using even 
the unrighteous mammon or worldly things for spiritual 
ends, and thus laying up treasure in heaven. He who is 
unfaithful in the least will be unfaithful in much, and he 
who is unjust in the least will be unjust in much, and if 
they are unfaithful in the earthly stewardship, how can 
they hope to have trusted to them the true riches ? If 
one is unfaithful in another's, how can he be faithful in 
his own ? It is impossible to serve two masters. Service 
of heart and hand can be rendered to but one. ' ' Ye 
cannot serve God and mammon. ' ' 

The Pharisees who heard these parables derided him, 
for they were covetous. The love of money absorbed 
their hearts, and they perceived that Jesus was reproving 
them. So Jesus addressed them directly. You Pharisees 
try to appear before men as righteous, but God knows 
your hearts, that they are evil. Remember that things 
which are highly esteemed among men are an abomina- 
tion to God. The Scriptures written by Moses and the 
prophets were preached until John came, and since then 
the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and many are 
pressing into it. You accuse me of breaking the law; 
but u it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than 
one tittle of the law to fail." It is you who violate the 
law and teach men so to do. In reference to the law of 
divorce for instance, the law, despite your practice and 
teaching, is still in force : That whosoever putteth away 



. 




(370 



372 THE S TOR V OF JESUS. 

his wife and marrieth another commit teth adultery, and 
whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her hus- 
band committeth adultery. 

To illustrate still further the wisdom of seeking an 
eternal heavenly inheritance rather than the uncertain 
and perishing riches of this world, he relates the story of 
the Rich Man and Lazarus. There was a rich man who 
was clothed in costly purple robes, such as were worn by 
princes, and in fine Egyptian linen, and who lived luxu- 
riously every day, feasting habitually. And there was a 
poor, despised beggar named Lazarus, whose friends laid 
him at the gate of the rich man's house. He was sick and 
hungry, and would have been satisfied with the crumbs 
that fell from the rich man's table. But no notice was 
taken of him, except by the dogs, which, more compas- 
sionate than their owner, came to relieve his misery by 
licking his sores. 

Finally the beggar died, and his soul was carried 
by the angels and placed on a couch beside the pa- 
triarch Abraham, in the banqueting hall in heaven. 
The rich man also died, and was buried with pomp and 
ceremony, and being in torment in hell, he saw and re- 
cognized afar off Abraham, and Lazarus in his bosom, 
enjoying the repose and plenty of the Father's house 
above, and he cried, u Father Abraham, have mercy on 
me, and send Lazarus to cool my tongue with water, for 
I am tormented in this flame. " But Abraham answered, 
Son, remember that in your lifetime you selfishly sought 
the good things of the world only, and you obtained 
them in abundance. Lazarus on the other hand suf- 
fered from sickness and want, but made sure of the 
heavenly inheritance. Now your conditions are reversed ; 
lie is comforted and is enjoying his reward, while you, 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 



373 



having lived in selfish pleasure and not seeking to be 
rich toward God, are now enduring the pains of the lost 
and the penalty of sin. But more than this, between the 
abode of misery, where you now are, and this happy 
place, there is a great and impassable gulf fixed; so that 
there can be no passing backward and forward between 
the two places. 

Then the rich man said. If my relief is impossible, 
at least let Lazarus go to my father's house and 
warn my five brethren, who are living as I lived, in 
worldliness and sin, lest they come here too. Abraham 
replied, They have the law written by Moses and the 
books of the prophets, by which they can learn their 
duty and destiny and be admonished. "Nay, Father 
Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead they 
would repent. ' ' And Abraham answered, ' ' If they 
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded, even though one rose from the dead." 

" This impressive parable, one of the most awful sayings of the 
Lord, was but a momentary unveiling of the spiritual world and 
the state of the departed ; yet it has left for all after ages the im- 
press of these momentous truths. Directly consequent upon 
death is a state of consciousness in which the soul remembers the 
past and knows its own conditions and its prospects. These two 
opposite states — the one of happiness and the other of misery — 
to which men are allotted according to their character and con- 
duct in this life ; these two conditions are immensely and irrev- 
ocably separated ; the blessed can do nothing for the alleviation 
of the miserable, nor can the lost ever reach the abode of the 
saved. The parable does not propose to remedy in the hereafter 
any inequalities of condition in the present state, but to compen- 
sate for losses here in the body by the superlative gain of the soul 
that lives unto God. How mean, how wretched the lot of one 
who revels in sensual abundance, but has nothing for the soul." 

This is the obvious teaching of the parable. Of the 



74 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



condition of the lost Jesus would say, as of the abode of 
the saved. "If it were not so, I would have told you." 

The whole discourse of Jesus may have given occasion 
for his words upon forbearance, faith and humility, 
which seem so closely connected with the preceding 
events. Offences must come, but woe upon those who 
commit them ! Forgive a brother who repents. Being 
asked by the disciples to increase their faith, he tells 
them to use the little faith they have and use would 
make it greater. The servant returned from plowing 
would first serve the master before serving himself ; so, 
when they, his disciples, had done all he commanded 
them to do, they need to say, "We are unprofitable 
servants ; we have done that which it was our duty 
to do." 




LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 375 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 
John xi. 1-54. — Bethany, a.d. 30. 

A ~\ THILE Jesus was engaged in his labors beyond 
^ ^ Jordan in Perea, word was brought him of the 
sickness of his friend Lazarus, of the village 
of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha. It was 
the same Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment 
and wiped his feet with her hair. Sorrow had invaded 
the household where Martha had entertained her Lord, 
and where Mary " sat at his feet and heard his word." 
These sisters, so confident of the love and sympathy and 
so sure of the timely aid of the Saviour, sent him word, 
" Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." They 
seem to take it for granted that Jesus would hasten to 
them if but informed. Jesus loved Mary and Martha 
as well as their brother, and so Jesus loved Peter, James 
and John. 

' ' Christ has objects of special affection ; they are such 
as love him and serve him with no ordinary love, and 
whose characters are such as the highest judge of char- 
acter can approve. They are none of them perfect, but 
he loves to help them in their endeavors to be so. He 
loves certain families, — families of prayer ; families 
whose members love one another ; families where he is 
exalted, and his cause and his friends are cherished and 
his name is most precious, and where the whole life of the 
household is one hymn of praise to Christ ; a fragrant 
sacrifice of devoted service to his honor and glory." 



376 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

When Jesus received the message he said to his disci- 
ples, that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death, 
and yet, " perplexing riddle," he did die; but for the 
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified 
thereby. 

' ' The raising of Lazarus was manifestly intended to supply 
the Jews with one more incontrovertible proof that Jesus was the 
Christ of God, the Messiah. It was also meant to prepare the 
minds of the Jews for the Lord's own resurrection. No one 
could say, when the grave of Jesus was found empty and his body 
gone, that his resurrection was an impossibility. The mere fact 
that in that very year a man dead four days had been restored to 
life within two miles from Jerusalem, would silence such remarks. 
Of all our Lord's miracles this one is the most thoroughly cred- 
ible, and supported by most incontestable proof." 

After Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick he re- 
mained two days where he was in Perea. But he was 
not indifferent, for he had an object in this. Then Jesus 
said unto his disciples, Let us go unto Judea again. 
But they reminded him that the Jews there had sought to 
stone him the very last time he was in the temple, and 
they remonstrated against his going. But Jesus said to 
them, "Are there not twelve hours in the day, from 
sunrise to sunset? 7 ' If a man walk in the clay he stum- 
bles not ; but if he walk in the night he stumbles. 
Jesus had a work to do while it was day, and his day was 
nearly at its close and the night was at hand. He was 
in the path of duty and walking in the light of day. 

Lazarus was now dead— dead probably before the mes- 
senger arrived — and Jesus knew it and made this simple 
announcement to his disciples, u Our friend Lazarus 
sleepeth ; but I go that I may awake him out of his 
sleep." The answer of the disciples, who misunder- 
stood him, was that the sick man would do well if he 



LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 



377 



was sleeping. The error in their interpretation of 
Christ's word is apparent. John explains that he spoke 
of Lazarus' death, but that they thought that he had 
spoken of his taking rest in 'sleep. How beautiful is 
heavenly speech ! To compare death to sleep, from 
which there is to be an awakening in the resurrection. 
Lazarus "was dead in the eyes of men, but asleep in 
the eyes of Christ, who can raise us from the grave with 
the same ease as from our beds. ' ' 

Jesus then said plainly that Lazarus was dead; and 
that he was going to raise him from the dead. He had 
already raised from the dead two persons, both before 
burial, in remote Galilee ; but now in the very neigh- 
borhood of Jerusalem, and in the presence of friends and 
foes, he will raise from the dead one who had lain four 
days in the grave, and thus perform the last great mira- 
cle of his life. He expresses himself glad for their 
sakes that he was not at Bethany before Lazarus died, 
because now they will have their confidence in him 
strengthened. This declaration of his purpose to go to 
Bethany again arouses the fears of his disciples. Thomas, 
called Didymus, or the twin, ever looking upon the 
gloomy side of things and always expecting disaster, 
says to his fellow-disciples, in mournful tones, "Let us 
also go, that we may die with him." A noble resolu- 
tion, to live or die with Christ. 

When Jesus reached Bethany, which was about fifteen 
furlongs or two miles east from Jerusalem, he found that 
Lazarus had lain in the grave four days already. Many 
Jews were there who had come from Jerusalem to com- 
fort Martha and Mary. As soon as Martha was informed 
that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him, proba- 
bly outside the town, leaving Mary in the house. Then 



378 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Martha exclaimed, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my 
brother had not died." But these reproachful words 
were soon followed by evidences of her unshaken faith 
in Jesus, for she told him that God would give him 
whatever he asked. Jesus assures her that her brother 
will rise again. But Martha, believing with the Jews in 
the resurrection of the dead at the judgment, replies, 
" I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at 
the last day." It was then that Jesus gave the great 
testimony concerning himself and his work, "I am the 
resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest 
thou this?" The reply of Martha is the confession of 
every renewed heart: U I believe that thou art the 
Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the 
world. ' ' 

Upon this Martha went after her sister Mary, secretly 
saying, The Master has come and is calling for thee. 
Mary arose at once and quietly came to Jesus, where 
Martha had left him. The Jews that were with Mary in 
the house comforting her, when they saw her rise up has- 
tily and go out, thought that she had gone to the grave 
to weep, and followed her. When Mary came to the 
place where Jesus was, she fell weeping at his feet, say- 
ing, what her sister had said before her, that her brother 
would not have died if Jesus had been there. The Jews 
who followed her wept also at her grief, and Jesus 
groaned in spirit and was troubled, touched with ten- 
derest sympathy and love. He asked with agitated 
voice and sorrowful face, where they had laid him, and 
they said, "Lord, come and see." "Jesus wept." Here 
are exhibitions of the humanity of Jesus that are soon 






LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 



379 



to be followed by the strongest evidences of his divinity. 
The Jews said, "Behold how he loved him." But 
Jesus wept with the weeping sisters of his dead friend. 

Jesus "allowed Lazarus to die. He allowed his sis- 
ters to suffer all this woe, not that he loved them less, 
but because he knew that for him, for them and for us 
all, higher ends were in this way gained than could have 
been accomplished by his cutting the illness short and 
going from Bethabara to cure. Little did the weeping 
sisters know what a place in the annals of redemption 
the death and resurrection of their brother was to oc- 
cupy. ' ' Some of the Jews said, ' ' Could not this man, 
which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that 
even this man should not have died?" Jesus again 
groaning within himself came to the grave. It was, as 
is usual in the east, a cave or excavation in the solid rock 
of the hillside beyond the town, and a stone served as a 
door to cover up the entrance, and stood between the liv- 
ing vSaviour and the dead man. Jesus commanded them 
to take away the stone ; to test their faith and obedience. 
It was theirs to roll away the stone and his to raise the dead. 
Martha remonstrated, for he had been dead four days, 
and the body must now be offensive, from decomposi- 
tion. He was dead, and up to this moment she was not 
thinking that her brother was about to be raised to life. 
Jesus replied, " Did I not tell you that you would see 
the power and glory of God if you would only believe ? " 
Then they that stood by obeyed and took away the stone, 
and Jesus prayed with uplifted eyes, "Father, I thank 
thee that thou hast heard me, and I know that thou 
hearest me always; but because of the people who stand 
by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent 
me." His power was from above, and Jesus always 



380 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

acknowledged his union with the Father and his depend- 
ence upon him as mediator. He was thankful that the 
people were now to receive such a proof of his divine 
mission. When Jesus had prayed he then cried with a 
loud voice, ' ' Lazarus, come forth. ' ' And that voice 
penetrated the world beyond, and the dead heard and 
came forth alive, bound hand and foot with the grave- 
clothes in which he had been buried and with a napkin 
bound about his face. The winding sheet around hand 
and foot had no more impeded his escape from the grave, 
than had the icy hand of death itself. Human hands 
have something also to do, and Jesus commands : ' i Loose 
him and let him go. ' ' 

Then many of the Jews which came to Mary believed 
when they had seen this miracle which Jesus did, but 
some of them went back to Jerusalem and told the 
Pharisees and chief priests, who, instead of rejoicing and 
accepting Jesus, at once held a council to consider what 
to do with him. "All men will believe on him," and 
the ' ' Romans will come and take both our place and our 
nation." One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that 
year, said, u It is expedient that one man should die for 
the people and the whole nation perish not. ' ' This he 
said not of himself, but he ' ' prophesied that Jesus should 
die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but 
that he should gather together in one the children of 
God that were scattered abroad." 

From that day they took counsel to put him to death. 
Therefore Jesus went about no more openly among the 
Jews in Judea, but went to a city called Ephraim, ' 4 near 
to the wilderness." 



B 



TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST 38 1 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

THE TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 
Luke xvii. n-37.— Samaria and Galilee, a.d. 30. 

PHRAIM, says Dr. G. W. Clark, was probably 



the modern Taiyibeh, situated on a conical hill, 
commanding a view of the whole slope of the 
valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and about sixteen 
miles northeast of Jerusalem. This also corresponds 
very well with the twenty miles which Jerome specifies 
as the distance from Jerusalem to Ephron. The retire- 
ment of Jesus to this town on the borders of Samaria 
strikingly harmonizes with the journey "through 
the midst of Samaria and Galilee," and with the view 
taken that Jesus went from Ephraim northward in his 
last journey which terminated at Jerusalem. Luke 
says : " And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, 
that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Gali- 
lee." His journey, then, was from Ephraim to Samaria 
and Galilee. 

As 'he was about to enter one of the villages in his 
journey, probably through Samaria, there met him ten 
lepers. They could not come near him, but they stood 
afar off, and with loud voice cried unto him : ' ' Jesus, 
Master, have mercy on us." Lepers in the east congre- 
gated together, for they were driven from home and all 
the places frequented by persons not afflicted with this 
terrible malady. These wretched men — for they were 
all men — had probably heard how Jesus had cured those 
who had the leprosy, and hoped that he would heal 



382 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

them, and cried for mercy. Attracted by their cries, he 
looked upon them and said, " Go, show yourselves to the 
priest." It was the law that one cleansed of leprosy 
must first be pronounced cured before he was allowed to 
go home or to mingle with men again. " Go show your- 
selves to the priest " meant, that these men were to go to 
the priest and ask him for a certificate that they were no 
longer lepers. But they had not yet been cured. Still, 
they went as if they had been made well. Such obedi- 
ence of faith was not passed by without a reward from 
Jesus, for as they were on their way to the priest they 
were cleansed and at once knew it. One of them, when 
he saw himself healed, turned back, and with a loud 
voice glorified God and came and fell at the feet of Jesus 
and thanked him. He was a Samaritan, and Jesus 
asked, "Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the 
nine ? There is not found that returned to give glory to 
God save this stranger." Jesus then said to this grateful 
alien to the commonwealth of Israel : "Arise, thy faith 
hath made thee whole." When this man joined the 
others on their way to the priest it was with a richer 
blessing than that of the healing of his body — a blessing 
"which reaches, not merely to the springs of bodily 
health, but to the very fountains of his spiritual being." 
Jesus was probably in Galilee when the Pharisees de- 
manded of him, when the kingdom of God should come. 
It was doubtless in contempt that they asked this ques- 
tion, and in order to expose him to ridicule. They were 
expecting the kingdom to come with outward pomp and 
parade as a temporal kingdom, and the Messiah to be an 
earthly prince, with retinues and armies. But here was 
one who claimed to be the Christ who was merely a 
teacher and preacher of peace, and who attracted to him- 



TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 383 

self publicans and sinners, and whose chosen disciples were 
ignorant fishermen. 

Where were the indications of the reign of David's 
Son ? Where the gatherings of Israel under his 
standard ? Where the overthrow of the hated Roman 
power ? Where the restored power of Jerusalem ? 
When shall it appear ? But Jesus' answer indicates how 
wholly mistaken they were as to the nature of that king- 
dom : "It cometh not with observation," he replied. It 
is not of such a character as to attract observation, for it 
is the invisible reign of God in the souls of men. Its 
dissemination is by the truth, and not by the sword ; by 
the power of the Holy Spirit, and not by the wisdom and 
might of men. Above all, it is not to be discerned by 
worldly men who look only upon the things that are 
seen, and who seek only that which is agreeable to their 
natural feelings. 

Neither shall they say, continues Jesus, ho here, 
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within 
you. False Christs and rabbis may proclaim the 
coming of the kingdom and exclaim : " Come, be- 
hold it," in this place or in that mountain ; but the 
kingdom has been set up here in the midst of you, and 
in the hearts of men. John ushered it in, the Messiah 
is here, the foundations of the kingdom have been laid 
and the reign of God among the nations of the earth has 
begun. 

Turning to his disciples, Jesus told them that the 
days would come in their history as a nation when, to 
escape impending destruction, men would gladly wel- 
come the day of mercy such as the Son of man was now 
offering, but it would then be too late. It may be that 
Jesus referred to the dreadful calamities that would come 



384 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

upon them in the destruction of Jerusalem, and when 
false prophets would appear, professing to be sent by God 
to deliver the nation. But when they shall say, See 
here, or see there, his disciples are not to be deceived ; 
" Go not after them nor follow them." And this warn- 
ing was necessary, for Josephus tells us that many ap- 
peared, claiming to be the Messiah and seeking to lead 
away the people. The Son of man, when he comes, will 
plainly appear, like the lightning from heaven, not here 
nor there, but unmistakably everywhere. But first Jesus 
must suffer many things and be rejected of this genera- 
tion. When he comes again it will be with the world 
as it was in Noah's time, when the people were eating 
and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and 
pursuing all their worldly affairs up to the day when 
Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and drowned 
them all. 

It was so too in the days of Lot ; they ate, drank, 
bought, sold, planted, builded and were engaged in all 
the occupations and pleasures of life ; but the same day 
that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone 
from heaven and destroyed them all. Sudden destruc- 
tion came upon Sodom by fire, as upon the world by 
flood, on account of the wickedness and worldliness of 
men, and found them unprepared. These are facts ac- 
cording to the testimony of Christ, and who will deny 
them? " Even so shall it be in the day when the Son 
of man shall be revealed." The reference here is to the 
destruction of the Jewish state, city, temple, nation and 
people. The history of the past was to be repeated in 
Christ's day. The Jews, careless of danger, would re- 
fuse to repent, would reject him whom God sent them, 
and ruin would come upon them. He warned his disci- 



TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 385 

pies not to stop in their flight. He who is on the house- 
top must not wait to save his goods in the house. He 
who is in the field must not return home. Remember 
Lot's wife, who lost all by looking back ; and do 
not seek to save your life at the risk of your soul. In 
that night two men shall be in one bed ; the one shall 
be taken and the other left ; two women shall be grind- 
ing grain at the mill, the one shall be taken and the 
other left ; two men shall be in the field, and the one 
shall be taken and the other left. "Where, Lord?" 
they asked. Where from and where to? Wheresoever 
the carcase is, — the Jewish nation, morally and spirit- 
ually dead, — there will the eagles — the Romans, whose 
ensign was an eagle — be gathered together. "Josephus 
asserts that there was no part of Judea which did not 
partake of the calamities of the capital city. The Ro- 
mans pursued and took and slew the Jews everywhere." 
It is said, however, that few, if any, Christians perished, 
because they obeyed these words of warning given them 
by Christ. But these words of Jesus are susceptible of 
a wider application than merely to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem. " Is not all history one long, vast commentary 
on the prophecies ? In the destinies of nations and of 
races, has not Christ returned again and again to deliver 
or to judge ?" 
17 



386 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IyXXIII. 

PARABLES ON PRAYER — DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE. 
Matt. xix. 13-15 ; Mark x. 13-16 ; Luke xviii. 1-17.— Galilee, Perea, a.d. 30. 

JESUS related some parables to his disciples on prayer. 
The first was to teach the duty and value of impor- 
tunate prayer. He told of a certain judge who 
feared neither man nor God, to whom a widow of the 
city appealed for protection against one who, contrary to 
law and justice, had wronged her, taking advantage of 
her defenceless condition. For a while he paid no heed 
to her, but finally he said to himself, ' ' Though I fear not 
God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth 
me, I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she 
weary me." In a like manner God will hear his people 
who come to him for relief. He may not at once an- 
swer, but those who cry to him day and night shall be 
heard. If the unjust judge heard the widow, how much 
more shall the just and righteous judge of all the earth 
be prevailed on by the prayers of those whom he loves, 
to deliver them speedily from affliction, from oppression 
and from all evil? u Nevertheless," Jesus asks, " when 
the Son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth ?' ' 
Then Jesus spoke a parable to those who trusted in 
themselves, that they were righteous and despised others. 
The characters in this parable were well chosen, for the 
Pharisees regarded themselves righteous and trusted in 
their good works for salvation, and despised the publi- 
cans as sinners beyond all people. Two men— a Phari- 
see and a publican — went into the temple at Jerusalem 



FARABLES— DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE. 



387 



to pray. The Pharisee, as was customary, "stood and 
prayed, ' ' although if he had felt the power of the adver- 
sary then ruling in his heart, he would have knelt or 
prostrated himself upon his face on the floor before God. 
He prayed "with himself," or apart from others, to 
avoid pollution. He boastingly thanked God that he 
was not a sinner as other men were : that he was not an 
adulterer, nor unjust, nor an extortioner, nor even as the 

publican who was there 
praying in the temple at 
the same time. Then he 
enumerates what he does 
that bears such a sem- 
blance to religion. He 
tells God that he fasts 
twice in the week, and 
gives a tenth part of all 
he possesses or gains for 
the service of religion and 
the support of the Levites. 
Thus he tries to make 
God out as his debtor. 
But the poor publican, 
standing afar off from the 
temple itself, in the court 
surrounding it, would not lift up his eyes toward heaven, 
but kept them down upon the ground, so great was his 
consciousness of unworthiness before God. With con- 
scious guilt he cries, "God be merciful to me a sinner." 
God looks upon these two men in a very different light 
from that in which they regard themselves. The prayer 
of the Pharisee was unheard. The penitent publican 
was answered because of his broken-hearted confession, 




PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN AT 
PRAYER. 



388 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

and he returned home conscious of the divine pardon 
and acceptance. And Jesus adds this lesson for all, ' ' For 
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he 
that abaseth himself shall be exalted." 

It seems that after uttering these discourses on prayer, 
Jesus departed from Galilee and returned to Perea. He 
was now for the last time on his way to Jerusalem, to at- 
tend the last Passover of his life, and hence this is his 
final adieu to Galilee. He did not again pass through 
Samaria in returning, but he crossed the Jordan to the 
east side and passed down the valley of that river, south- 
ward through Perea, and at the same time his journey 
was along the borders of Judea. Perea was east of the 
Jordan River, and included Bashan and Gilead. u In 
the time of Christ it was fertile and populous, and in- 
habited by a mixed population, partly Roman, partly 
Jewish. It is said that the Jordan valley alone contains 
the ruins of one hundred and twenty -seven villages. ' ' 

Again great multitudes of people resort to him, and 
he heals them. The Pharisees also came to him, not to 
be healed or pardoned, but tempting him. u Is it law- 
ful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? ' ' 
they asked. Having probably heard what he had before 
said on this subject, they desired him to entrap himself. 
Jesus answered their question by asking another, u What 
did Moses command?" And they replied that Moses 
permitted them to put a wife away if they gave her a 
writing of divorce. Jesus tells them that Moses had al- 
lowed this simply because of the hardness of their 
hearts, but that from the beginning it was not so, and 
that God had ordained otherwise. Jesus here again 
lays down the law of God upon the marriage rela- 
tion for Jew and Gentile. " At the beginning God 



PARABLES— DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE. 389 

made them male and female, and said, for this cause 
shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his 
wife, and they shall be one flesh. What, therefore, God 
hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Whoso- 
ever shall put away his wife and marry another, commit- 
teth adultery, and if a woman shall put away her hus- 
band and be married to another, she committeth adul- 
tery." These plain and simple words of our Lord 
should be enough for us to-day, and they are the law to 
govern all men, in and out of the church, and no human 
law can annul them or make the contrary right. 

Some of the disciples, however, after hearing these 
words of Jesus went to the other extreme in their infer- 
ences, and said that if such was the case it was not good 
for a man to marry. But Jesus replied that not all men 
were prepared to receive the view they had taken. It 
would do for some and under some circumstances, as an 
exception to the rule; but marriage was the rule. There 
were those who were unfit for marriage ; some born so, 
others made so by the cruelty of men, and still others 
by a blind and mistaken zeal, like some of the Essenes, 
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. This statement 
of our Saviour "swept away forever the conception of 
woman as the mere toy or slave of man and based the 
true relations of the sexes on the eternal foundations of 
truth, right, honor and love. To ennoble the home and 
family by raising woman to her true position was essen- 
tial to the future stability of the kingdom as one of purity 
and spiritual worth. By making marriage indissoluble 
he proclaimed the equal rights of woman and man within 
the limits of the family, and in this gave a charter of 
nobility to the mothers of the world. For her noblest 
position in the Christian era, compared with that granted 
her in antiquity, woman is indebted to Jesus Christ. ' ' 



390 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 

JKSUS AND THE YOUNG — LITTLE CHILDREN — THE 

YOUNG RULER. 
Matt. xix. 13 -xx. 1-16 ; Mark x. 13-31 ; I^uke xviii. 15-30. — Perea, a.d. 30. 

TT was during his journey ings in Perea that mothers 
-*- brought to Jesus their infant children that he 
might put his hands on them and pray. These 
mothers, at least, had a right conception of the work of 
Jesus and the value of his blessing. And when his dis- 
ciples rebuked those that brought them, Jesus was much 
displeased with his disciples, and, calling them to him, 
said, ' ' Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Dr. 
Albert Barnes says, ' ' The kingdom of heaven evidently 
means here the church, of such as these — that is, of per- 
sons of such tempers as these — is the church to be com- 
posed. He does not say of these infants, but of such 
persons as resembled them or were like them in temper, 
was the kingdom of heaven made up. It is probably — 
it is greatly to be hoped — that all infants will he saved. 
No contrary doctrine is taught in the sacred scriptures. 
But it does not appear to be the design of this passage to 
teach that all infants shall be saved. It means simply 
that they should be brought to him as amiable, lovely, 
and uncorrupted by the world, and having traits of mind 
resembling those among real Christians." 

( c Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive 
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter 
therein." "This single sentence expressed the whole 






JESUS AND THE YOUNG. 



391 



nature of the gospel proclaimed by Christ. It implied 
that he viewed the kingdom of God as an invisible and 
spiritual one, to enter which a certain disposition of 




SUFFER LITTXE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME. 

heart was essential, viz. : A child-like spirit, free from 
pride and self-will, receiving divine impressions in hum- 
ble submission and conscious dependence. In a word, 



392 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

all the qualities of the child suffering itself to be guided 
by the developed reason of the adult, are to be illustrated 
in the relations between man and God. Without this 
child-like spirit there can be no religious faith ; no relig- 
ious life." 

Jesus himself u had the ideal child-like spirit and de- 
lighted to see in little ones his own image. Purity, truth- 
fulness, simplicity, docility and loving dependence made 
them the fitting types of his followers." He took the 
little ones up in his arms, put his hands on them, blessed 
them and departed. 

When Jesus went from the place where he was bless- 
ing the children, into the public road, there came run- 
ning to him a young ruler, probably a member of the 
Sanhedrin, who, kneeling before him, said: "Good Mas- 
ter, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eter- 
nal life ? ' ' Jesus first asked him why he called him 
good, remarking that there was none good but God. 
This Jesus did, checking him, for this young man had 
very little conception of goodness in God's sight. He 
thought himself good. Jesus does not reject the word 
good as applied to himself, but continues, u If thou wilt 
enter into life, keep the commandments." Which? 
asked the youth; and Jesus answered, " Thou shalt do 
no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt 
not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy 
father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." Jesus here gives the laws of the second 
table, or man's duties to his fellow-man, because this 
young man had asked what good thing he could do. 
And he now answered, "All these things have I kept 
from my youth up: what lack I yet? " It is said that 
Jesus beholding him loved him, so great was the excel- 



JESUS AND THE YOUNG. 393 

lence of his character; and he replied, c< One thing thou 
lackest; if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell whatsoever 
thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have 
treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross and 
follow me." 

"Beneath the pleasing show of outward moralities, 
Christ detected in the young ruler's heart a want of any 
true regard to God or any recognition of his paramount 
claims. His heart, his trust, his treasure were in 
earthly, not in heavenly things." He lacked the one 
thing needful, without which none can enter into eter- 
nal life. Nothing but the absolute surrender of all his 
wealth could save him. He talked of what he had; 
Christ showed him what he lacked. He sought eternal 
life on the ground of his own merits. The effect upon 
the young man of Jesus' final answer was sad indeed. 
He was sorrowful, and went away grieved, for he had 
great possessions. Unwilling to make the sacrifice re- 
quired of him, he departs, turning his back on Jesus and 
heaven, and, weeping, goes down to eternal ruin. When 
Jesus saw him go away sorrowful, and knowing the 
cause, he said that it was hardly possible for a rich man 
to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were aston- 
ished at his words, but Jesus said again more plainly, 
" Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches 
to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for a 
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God." The disciples 
were then more astonished, saying among themselves, 
" Who then can be saved ? " 

'"The camel being the largest animal with which the 
Jews were acquainted, its name became proverbial for 
describing anything remarkably large, and a camel's 

17* 



394 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

passing through a needle's eye came by consequence, as 
appears from some rabbinical writings, to express a thing 
utterly impossible. ' ' However Jesus adds, in answer to 
their question as to who can be saved, that with men it 
is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possi- 
ble with him. Peter then says, ' ' We have left all to 
follow thee; what shall we have therefore?" Jesus 
seems to answer this question in the parable of 
the laborers; but now he says, You disciples shall be 
with me in glory, and in the better state sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. By this is 
meant the great honor to which they would be exalted. 
But Jesus says of all his disciples or followers, that 
( ' Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or 
sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for 
my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold and shall 
inherit everlasting life." But, to warn his disciples as 
well as others, he adds, ( ' Many that are first shall be 
last , and the last shall be first. ' ' 

To illustrate this truth Jesus relates a parable. A 
master of a family and owner of a vineyard went out 
early in the morning to hire laborers to work in his vine- 
yard, and agreed to pay them a penny or denarius a day. 
The denarius was a Roman silver coin worth about 
fourteen cents, but with the purchasing value of our dol- 
lar. About the third hour of the day, which corresponds 
to our nine o'clock in the morning, he went out and saw 
others standing idle in the market-place, and he sent 
them also into his vineyard to work, saying that he 
would pay them what was right. Again at the eighth and 
the ninth hours he did the same thing. And about the 
eleventh hour or about five o'clock in the afternoon, 
when there was but one working hour of the day left, 



JESUS AND THE YOUNG. 395 

he went out and found more idlers in the market-place, 
and asked them why they stood idle all the day. They 
answered that no man had hired them, and he sent them 
likewise to work in his vineyard, promising to give them 
whatever was right. At the close of the day the owner 
of the vineyard told his steward to call the laborers and 
to pay them, beginning at the last employed and ending 
with the first. Those who came to work at the eleventh 
hour received every man a penny, and likewise all the 
others. But those who went first to work and had 
labored all day and agreed to one penny, when they were 
paid the same as the others, complained that they had 
borne the burden and heat of the day, and were entitled 
to more pay than those who had wrought but one hour. 
But the householder replied, "Friend, I do thee no harm. 
Didst thou not agree with me for a penny ? Take that 
is thine and go thy way. I will give unto this last even 
as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will 
with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? 
So the last shall be first and the first last, for many are 
called, but few chosen." 

Dr. J. G. Butler says: 

"The parable is directed against a wrong temper and spirit of 
mind, which all men in possession of spiritual privileges have 
need to be warned against. The warning was primarily ad- 
dressed to the apostles as the chiefest and foremost in the Chris- 
tian Church, the earliest to labor in the Lord's vineyard. They 
had seen the rich young man go sorrowfully away, unable to 
abide the proof by which the Lord had revealed how strongly he 
was holding to the things of the world. They would fain know 
what their reward should be who had done this very thing from 
which he had shrunk, who had forsaken all for the gospel's sake. 
The Lord answers them first and fully, that they, and as many 
as should do the same for his sake, should reap an abundant re- 



39^ 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



ward. At the same time the question itself, what shall we have ? 
was not a righteous one." 

Dr. Barnes says : 

"The parable is simply designed to teach that in the church, 
among the multitudes that shall be saved, Christ makes a differ- 
ence. He makes some men more useful than others, without re- 
gard to the time which they serve ; and he will reward them ac- 
cordingly ; to all justice shall be done ; to all to whom the re- 
wards of heaven were promised they shall be given. If among 
this number who are called into his kingdom he chooses to raise 
some to stations of distinguished usefulness, and to confer on 
them peculiar talents and higher rewards, he wrongs no one." 




THE IyOST SHEEP BROUGHT HOME. 






THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE'S CHILDREN. 



397 



J 



CHAPTER LXXV. 

THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE'S CHILDREN. 

Matt xx. 17-28 ; Mark x. 32-45 ; U'ke xviii. 31-34.— Perea, a.d. 30. 

ESUS was now on his way to Jerusalem for the 
last time. But while still in Perea he took the 
disciples aside, who were amazed and afraid at 
the thought of his going to Jerusalem, and foretold to 
them for the third time his death and resurrection. He 
told them all things written by the prophets concerning 
himself, and that he was going to Jerusalem, where all 
these prophecies would be fulfilled. He would be be- 
trayed and delivered up to the scribes, the chief priests 
and the Gentiles ; and would be mocked and scourged, 
spit upon and crucified, and after death would rise again 
the third day. "And they understood none of these 
things; and this saying was hid from them; neither 
knew they the things that were spoken. ' ' Still holding 
their carnal notions as to the kingdom, they thought 
that Jesus was now about to go to Jerusalem to estab- 
lish it ; though he had sought to open their eyes to the 
true state of affairs. 

It was at this time that Salome, the wife of Zebedee, 
came with her two sons, James and John, and, reverently 
kneeling before him, asked, "Grant that these my two 
sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on 
thy left, in the kingdom." The disciples here had no 
reference to the church, but to occupy the two seats of 
honor on each side of the throne when Jesus would set 
up an earthly kingdom as they expected he was now to 



398 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

do at Jerusalem. Jesus replied that they knew not what 
they asked. Such position in the kingdom he was to es- 
tablish was more than they could occupy. "Are ye 
able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be 
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? " 
and they said, " We are able." 

1 ' ' By the baptism that I am to be be baptized with ' 
Jesus evidently means his trials and sufferings." Dr. 
Barnes says : ( c Are you able to suffer with me, to en- 
dure the trials and pains which shall come upon me, in 
endeavoring to build up the kingdom ? Are you able 
to plunge deep in afflictions, to have sorrows cover you 
like water, and to be sunk beneath calamities as floods, 
in the work of religion ? Afflictions are often expressed 
by being sunk in the floods, and plunged in the deep 
waters. ' ' 

' ' You shall indeed, ' ' replied Jesus, ' c drink of my 
cup and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized 
with ; but to sit on my right hand and on my left is 
not mine to give, except to those for whom it shall 
be prepared of my Father." Jesus meant that they 
would follow him through all his sufferings, and par- 
take of his afflictions ; and this was fulfilled. James 
was slain with the sword by Herod at an early day, and 
John, though he lived many years, suffered many trials 
and was banished to Patmos, a solitary island, for the 
testimony of Jesus. And as to rewards in his eternal 
kingdom, Jesus would give them to his followers accord- 
ing to the word and purpose of his Father. It was no 
more proper for them to know this, than it was for 
them to know the times and seasons of his coining 
again. 

The other disciples, when they heard of this, were 



THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE'S CHILDREN. 399 

indignant at the ambitious request of the two brothers. 
But Jesus quelled the rising storm by making the inci- 
dent the occasion for instruction upon the subject thus 
brought up. He called all the apostles to him, and said 
to them that the princes among the heathen Gentiles ex- 
ercise authority over their subjects, and raise favorites to 
posts of honor, but it shall not be so among the disci- 
ples and subjects of his kingdom. His kingdom would 
be established in a different way and upon different prin- 
ciples. There were to be no ranks ; no places of domin- 
ion. ' ' All are to be on a level. The rich and the poor, 
the learned, the unlearned, the bond, the free, are to be 
equal, and he will be the most distinguished who shows 
the most humility, the deepest sense of his unworthiness 
and the most earnest desire to promote the welfare of his 
brethren." "Whosoever will be chief among you, let 
him be your servant, even as the Son of man came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his 
life a ransom for all." Jesus here points to his own ex- 
ample. He was the God of heaven, and yet he came to 
serve men, taking upon him the form of a servant. He 
came, moreover, to offer himself as a substitute for sin- 
ners, and to pay the price on the cross for their redemp- 
tion from the guilt, the power and the consequences of 
sin. Here, then, to his disciples Jesus declares his aton- 
ing sacrifice for sin. 



400 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 

ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS. 

Matt. xx. 29-34 ; Mark x. 46-59 ; Luke xviii. 35— xix. 1-28 ; John xi. 55 — xii. 1-11. — 
Jericho, a.d. 30. 

" AtAHE city of Jericho was about eight miles west of the river 
I Jordan and about nineteen miles northeast of Jerusalem. 
Near this city the Israelites crossed the Jordan when 
they entered the land of Cannaan. It was the first city taken by 
Joshua, who destroyed it to its foundation, and pronounced a 
curse on him who should rebuild it. This curse was literally 
fulfilled in the days of Ahab, nearly five hundred years after. It 
afterwards became the place for the school of the prophets. In 
this place Elisha worked a signal miracle, greatly to the advant- 
age of the inhabitants, by rendering the waters near it, that 
were before bitter, sweet and wholesome. In point of size it was 
second only to Jerusalem. It was sometimes called the city of 
palm trees, from the fact that there were many palms in the 
vicinity. A few of them still remain. At this place died Herod 
the Great, of a most wretched and loathsome disease." 

Says Bdersheim : 

1 1 The ancient city occupied not the site of the present wretched 
hamlet, but lay about half an hour to the northwest of it, by the 
so called Elisha Springs. A second spring rose an hour farther 
to the north-northwest. The water of these springs, distributed 
by aqueducts, gave unsurpassed fertility to the rich soil along the 
plain of Jericho, which is about twelve or fourteen miles wide. 
We can picture to ourselves the scene, as our Lord, on that after- 
noon in early spring, beheld it. Here it was, indeed, already 
summer, for, as Josephus tells us, even in winter the inhabitants 
could bear only the lightest clothing of linen. We are approach- 
ing it from the Jordan ; it is protected by walls flanked by four 
forts. These walls, the theatre and the amphitheatre have been 
built by Herod ; the new palace and its splendid gardens are the 
work of Archelaus. All around wave groves of feathery palms, 






ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS. 40 1 

rising in stately beauty, stretch gardens of roses, and especially 
sweet-scented balsam plantations — the largest behind the royal 
gardens — of which the perfume is carried by the wind almost out 
to sea, and which may have given to the city its name, Jericho 
' the perfumed.' It is the Eden of Palestine, the very fair}- land of 
the Old World, and how strangely is this gem set ! Deep down in 
that hollowed valley through which tortuous Jordan winds to 
lose his waters in the shining mass of the sea of judgment. The 
river and the Dead Sea are equidistant from the town — about six 
miles. Far across the river rise the mountains of Moab, on 
which lies the purple and violet coloring. Towards Jerusalem 
and northward stretched those bare limestone hills, the hiding- 
place of robbers along the desolate road toward the city. There 
and in the neighboring wilderness of Judea are the lonely dwell- 
ings of the Anchorites, while over all this strangely-colored 
scene has been flung the many-colored mantle of a perpetual 
summer. 

" It was directly on the road from the Lower Jordan to Je- 
rusalem ; and the Galileans on their way south to the annual 
festivals were accustomed, in order to avoid Samaria, to cross the 
Jordan near the Sea of Galilee, descend by the river on its east- 
ern side and recross it to the west on reaching Judea, passing 
up to Jerusalem through Jericho. Jesus then w r as following the 
regular route taken from Perea to Jerusalem through Jericho. 

"Jericho was a Levitical city, and hence the residence of a 
great many priests. Its position as the centre of an exception- 
ally productive district, and also the import and export trade be- 
tween the two sides of the Jordan, made it also a city of publi- 
cans. It had much the same place in Southern Palestine as Ca- 
pernaum—the centre of trade between the sea-coast and the 
northern interior as far as Damascus— held in Galilee. The 
transit to and fro of so much wealth brought with it proportion- 
ate work and harvest for the farmers of the revenue. Hence a 
strong force of customs and excise collectors was stationed in it, 
under a local head named Zaccheus." 

Jesus entered Jericho, and while he was passing 
through the street, attended by a vast concourse of peo- 
ple, a rich man named Zaccheus, " the chief among the 



4<D2 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

publicans," wanted to see who it was that was creating 
such an excitement, but he could not for the press of the 
people, for he was small of stature. So he ran before, in 
the way Jesus was going, and to see him climbed a tree 
— " the sycamore, or Egyptian fig, not to be confounded 
with the sycamine tree or mulberry, or with the syca- 
more, is exceedingly easy to climb," — and when Jesus 
came to the place where he was, he called to him by 
name to hasten and come down, because he meant to 
abide with him in his house that day. Zaccheus at once 
obeyed and received him joyfully. But the Jews found 
fault, saying that he had gone to be a guest with a man 
who was a sinner. But Zaccheus stood before Jesus and 
said : ' ' Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the 
poor ; and if I have taken away anything from any man 
by false accusation, I restore him four-fold. ' ' Jesus re- 
plied, ' ( To-day is salvation come to this house, foras- 
much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man 
is come to seek and to save that which was lost. " " The 
Roman law required this — that is, four-fold restitution ; 
the Jewish law required the principal and a fifth more. 
Here was no demand made for either, but to testify the 
change he had experienced, besides rendering the half of 
his fair gains to the poor, he voluntarily determines to 
give up all that was ill gotten, quadrupled. ' ' This offer- 
ing of his goods Christ accepts, for he knows that these 
things are from the heart, and that with them Zaccheus 
dedicates himself to God. He was a Jew and also a great 
sinner, needing to be saved. Now he was a true son of 
Abraham through repentance towards God and faith in 
Christ. 

To these words that Jesus had spoken concerning 
Zaccheus in the presence of the people he added a para- 






ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEU2>. 



403 



ble, — that of the ten pounds, — because the Jews thought 
that the reign of the Messiah would immediately com- 
mence and because he was near Jerusalem, the capital of 
the country, where it was expected that it would be es- 
tablished. Jesus wished to correct that notion, which he 
does in the parable of the ten pounds, which differs 
somewhat from that of the ten talents. A nobleman, 
who went into a far country to receive for himself a 
kingdom, delivered to his ten servants ten pounds or 
Hebrew minas, — worth about twenty-five dollars each — 
and told them to occupy till he returned. But they 
hated him, and sent a message after him that they 
would not have him reign over them. So when he had 
received the kingdom and returned, he commanded the 
servants to be brought before him to ascertain how much 
each had gained by trading. One had gained ten pounds, 
another five. To both of these he said, "Well done," 
and appointed the first over ten cities, and the second 
over five cities. Another came with the pound wrapped 
in a napkin, where it had lain unemployed since it was 
given him, because he believed his Master to be an 
austere and grasping man. But the Lord took away his 
pound from him and gave it to him who had ten, ' ' for 
unto every one that hath shall be given. ' ' And as to his 
enemies, who sent word that they did not want him to 
rule over them, he had them brought and put to death. 
Jesus was the nobleman who was to go away to receive 
a kingdom. Before setting up his kingdom he will leave 
his servants to employ, during his absence, the talents he 
has given them. But he will be neglected by his own 
people; and he will come again to call his servants to 
account. " By the punishment of those who would not 
that he should reign over them, is denoted the doom of 



404 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

the Jewish nation, for rejecting the Messiah, and also the 
punishment of all sinners, for not receiving him as 
king. ' ' 

It was probably when leaving Jericho in the morning, 
after a quiet night at the house of Zaccheus, that Jesus 
met the two blind men outside of the city gates. Luke 
speaks as if he were going into the city, but refers only 
to nearness to it. Mark and Luke mention but one, and 
Mark gives his name — Bartimeus, that is son of Timeus. 
There is no contradiction here. One evangelist men- 
tions the two, and the others dwell upon the one, because 
he is more prominent and his case more interesting. 
This shows their honesty and truthfulness, — that they 
had not conspired together to deceive, — they related 
facts. 

Bartimeus has heard of Jesus and his mighty 
works, but probably has not been near him before. He 
hears the great commotion made by the multitude fol- 
lowing Jesus, and asks what it is all about. He was 
told that it was Jesus. He could not see where Jesus 
was, but he could reach him with his voice. So he cries 
out aloud to him, not only as Jesus the Nazarene, but 
" Jesus, thou Son of David," the Christ of God, "have 
mercy on me." Some of the people told the blind man 
to hold his peace. But he cried the more, u Thou Sou of 
David, have mercy on me." Jesus stood still, and com- 
manded him to be called, and Bartimeus, casting aside in 
his haste and excitement the mantle that covered his 
shoulders, came near, led by some friendly hand. "What 
wilt thou that I shall do unto you ? ' ' asked Jesus. 
" Lord, that I may receive my sight." And Jesus had 
compassion and touched his eyes and said, u Receive thy 
sight. Go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee." And 



ZA CCHE US AND BAR TIME US. 405 

immediately he received his sight and followed him, and 
he and all who saw it glorified and praised God. 

After these events at Jericho, Jesns went before, fol- 
lowed by his disciples and the people, ' ' ascending up to 
Jerusalem." Leaving the plain in which Jericho was 
situated, he climbed the heights toward the city of David, 
in the hill country of Judea. It was nearly time for the 
Jewish Passover, and people from all parts of the land 
were already congregating at Jerusalem to perform the 
rites necessary to ceremonial purification before the feast. 
The people sought in vain for Jesus; so they spoke 
among themselves in whispers as they stood in the tem- 
ple — "What think ye that he will not come to the 
feast ? ' ' This they did because the Pharisees and chief 
priests had given orders that if any man knew where 
Jesus was he should show it, that they might arrest him. 

While these things were occurring Jesus was nearing 
the city. It was six days before the Passover, on Friday 
afternoon, when he reached Bethany, on the road between 
Jericho and Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount 
of Olives and near to Jerusalem. It was here that 
Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived, with whom he spent 
the Sabbath — Saturday. It was not long before the peo- 
ple learned of his arrival there, and came in large num- 
bers, not only to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, 
whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests, 
bent on their deadly purpose, agreed together to put not 
only Jesus, but Lazarus also to death, on account of his 
wonderful resurrection. Many of the Jews ' ' went away 
and believed on Jesus." 



BOOK EIGHTH 



THE LAST PASSOVER WEEK. 

FROM APRIL 2D TO APRIL 8TH A.D. 30. 

(407) 







( 4 o8) 



THK WAY OF THE CROSS. 



CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 409 



CHAPTER LXXVII. 

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 

Matt. xxi. 1-17 ; Mark xi. i-xi ; Luke xix. 29-44 ; John xii. 12-26. — Jerusalem- 
Sunday— one day — April, a.d. 30. 

^ I ^HB Jewish Sabbath began on Friday at sundown 
-*- and closed at sundown on Saturday. It was the 
next morning — our Sunday — when Jesus re- 
sumed his journey toward Jerusalem and the temple. 
Thousands of people from every section of the land and 
from all parts of the world were present to attend the 
feast, and the city was thronged. Bethphage was near 
Bethany, but while the latter remains, not a trace of the 
former can be discovered. The people in the city were in 
expectation, and when they heard that Jesus was ap- 
proaching, and was even then just over on the other side 
of the Mount of Olives, shut out from their view, they 
went in vast numbers out of the city to meet him. From 
Bethphage, where he probably lodged, Jesus sent two of 
his disciples, the evening before, to Bethany, where they 
would find an ass tied outside the door, and a colt with 
her. They were to loose and bring them to him, and if 
any one objected they were to say that the Master had 
need of them, and he would send them at once. Mark 
and Luke mention only the colt, on which no one had 
ever ridden, because it was on this that Jesus rode. It 
happened just as Jesus told them ; and when they 
brought them to Jesus they put their outer garments on 
the colt and then helped Jesus to mount its back. 

Thus Jesus prepared to ascend the eastern slope of the 
18 



dio 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



Mount of Olives and descending on the other side to en- 
ter Jerusalem. This mount is about a mile in length 
and about seven hundred feet high, and overlooks Jeru- 
salem, every part of which can be seen from its summit. 
There are two roads from Bethany to Jerusalem — one 
around the southern end, the other across the summit. 




CHRIST'S PUBUC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 

It has three peaks, or summits, and our Saviour is sup- 
posed to have ascended the middle one, over which runs 
the road to the city. This mountain took its name from 
the olive-tree, which blooms in June, bearing white 
flowers, and, in due season, its well-known olive fruit. 
U A11 this was done," says Matthew, "that it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ' Tell 



CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTR Y INTO JERUSALEM. 411 

ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy king cometh unro 
thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal 
of an ass.' " 

" Five hundred years before the prophet Zechariah had 
foretold that the king of Zion would one day appear 
1 riding on an ass. ' At the time of the prophecy there 
were no kings in Zion or Jerusalem. The kingdom had 
ceased at the captivity." This prophecy is here applied 
directly to Jesus as Judah's king. The whole proceed- 
ing seems strange to us, but most Oriental customs seem 
strange to western nations. 

11 In Judea there were few horses, and those were used chiefly 
in war. Men seldom employed them in common life, and in or- 
dinary journeys the ass, the mule and the camel are still most 
used in eastern countries. To ride on a horse was sometimes an 
emblem of war ; on a mule and an ass the emblem of peace. 
Kings and princes commonly rode on them in times of peace ; 
and it is mentioned as a mark of rank and dignity to ride in that 
manner. So Solomon, when he was inaugurated as king, rode 
on a mule. Riding in this manner then denoted neither poverty 
nor degradation, but was the appropriate way in which a king 
should ride, and in which, therefore, the King of Zion should 
enter into his capital— the city of Jerusalem." 

The very great multitude that had come out of Jerusa- 
lem, waving palm branches, met him as he drew nigh 
the city, at the descent of the Mount of Olives. Some 
spread their outer garments or cloaks on the ground, and 
others cut branches off the palm-trees and strewed them 
in the way for him to ride over, as on a royal road. 
And the multitude was very great ; some went before 
and some followed after him. When he began his de- 
scent toward the city u the whole multitude of his disci- 
ples" began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice 



412 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 
' ' Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the 
Lord ! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest ! " 
The multitude of the people joined with the disciples in 
the loud acclaim, saying, u Hosanna to the Son of David; 
blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ; 
hosanna in the highest. ' ' 

John tells us that the disciples did not fully understand 
these things in the light of prophecy until after the 
Lord's resurrection and ascension. This demonstration 
of popular favor on the part of the Jewish people was be- 
cause of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, which had 
taken place near the city, and was now known to all. 
But the effect of Christ's transient popularity upon the 
Pharisees was depressing. They said among themselves : 
" Perceive ye how we prevail nothing? Behold the world 
is gone after him." Some of them said to Jesus: 
' ( Master, rebuke thy disciples ;' ' and he answered them : 
"I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones 
would immediately cry out." When Jesus, approach- 
ing, looked down upon the city from the Mount of Olives, 
he wept over it and uttered that sad lamentation : "If 
thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this, thy day, 
the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are 
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, 
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and 
compass thee round and keep thee in on every side, and 
shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children 
within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone 
upon another ; because thou knewest not the da}' of thy 
visitation." When he had come into the city and tem- 
ple the whole city was moved with excitement, and the 
people who had not gone forth to meet him, asked, 



CHRISTS PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 413 

"Who is this?" The multitude answered, "This is 
Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." 

This prediction of Jesus in regard to Jerusalem was 
verified. 

"Sternly, literally, within fifty years was this prophecy ful- 
filled," says Farrar. "Josephus tells us how, to the very letter, 
all this was fulfilled — how, at an early stage of the four months' 
siege Titus, the Roman general in command, summoned a coun- 
cil of war, at which three plans were discussed — to storm the city, 
or to repair and rebuild the engines that had been destroyed, or to 
blockade the city and starve it into surrender. The third was 
the method adopted, and by incredible labor, the whole army en- 
gaging in the work, a wall was raised, which compassed the city 
round and round, and hemmed it on every side. During the war 
the people flocked into Jerusalem, and when famine drove any to 
escape, they were crucified. The Romans burnt the most ex- 
treme parts of the city and dug up the foundations of the walls, 
reserving only three towers and a part of the wall as a memorial 
of their own valor and for the better encampment of the sol- 
diers. 

" Titus did not wish to sacrifice the temple — nay, he made every 
possible effort to save it— but he was forced to leave it in ashes. 
He did not intend to be cruel to the inhabitants, but the deadly 
fanaticism of their opposition so extinguished all desire to spare 
them that he undertook the task of well-nigh exterminating the 
race, of crucifying them by hundreds, of exposing them in am- 
phitheatres by thousands, of selling them into slavery by myri- 
ads. Josephus tells us that even immediately after the siege of 
Titus, no one in the desert waste around him would have recog- 
nized the beauty of Judea. 

"When we conceive Jesus surveying, on the one hand, the 
multitudes of giddy, thoughtless, infatuated beings around him, 
engrossed with the affairs of the passing hour, trifling with the 
grandest concerns in the universe ; gay, sportive, careless, hurry- 
ing on to the verge of life ; and then, on the other hand, turning 
to behold the dread futurity, the awful gulf of ruin flaming 
forth the wrath of the Almighty God against the impenitent— is 
there not in this an explanation that may well appall the sinner, 



414 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

of the compassion, the grief, the yearning expostulation of Je- 
'sus? Surely it is impossible for imagination to conceive a more 
awful measure of the guilt and danger of sin than the grief of 
Jesus." 

It was the same day of his entrance into the city that 
' ' certain Greeks ' ' — probably they were Gentiles who 
had come to worship in the conrt of the Gentiles, as the 
heathen often did —who said to Philip, ' ' We would see 
Jesus. ' ' Philip and Andrew most likely sought Jesus in 
that part of the temple where the Gentiles were not 
allowed. Jesus said to them that the hour of his glorifi- 
cation had come ; that a grain of wheat had to fall into 
the ground and die, to produce fruit ; that he that loveth 
this life shall lose the life to come, and that if any man 
would serve him he must follow him ; that such would 
be with him, and be honored by the Father. 

At this time Jesus' soul was troubled, in view of the 
coming cross. ' ' Father, save me from this hour, but 
for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy 
name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying: "I 
have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Some 
of the people standing by heard the voice, and thought 
that it thundered ; others said, ' ' an angel spake unto 
him." But Jesus told them that the voice came for 
their sakes ; that the time had come for the world to be 
judged ; for the prince of this world, even Satan, to be 
cast out, and signifying by what death he should die, he 
said : " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
all men unto me. ' ' Upon this the people began to ques- 
tion him. He had claimed to be the Son of man ; had 
spoken of his death ; they wanted to know, then, why 
the law said that Christ should abide forever. " Who is 
this Son of man?" Jesus replies : "Yet a little while 



CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 415 



is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, 
lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in dark- 
ness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the 
light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of 
light." When Jesus had said these things he departed 
from the temple and hid himself from them, and leaving 
the city, he returned to Bethany — to his disciples — proba- 
bly to the house of Lazarus, where he spent the night. 




MONTE CHRISTO. 



416 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvXXVIII. 

TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE. 

Matt. xxi. 12-16, 18-19 ; Mark xi. 12-19 ; IvtJKE xix. 45-48 ; xxi. 37-38.— Jerusalem, 
Monday, the second day of the week, April, a.d. 30. 

IV 7T0NDAY morning Jesus and his disciples re- 
■^•V-L turned from Bethany to Jerusalem. On the 
way he was hungry, and, seeing a fig tree afar 
off by the common roadside, he came to it for figs, and 
found on it nothing but leaves. ' ' The time of figs was 
not yet," that is, the time for gathering them. It was 
the season for figs, which were ripe during the Passover. 
Jesus pronounced a curse upon it, that is, devoted it to 
destruction, but the words he used were : ' ' Let no fruit 
grow on thee henceforth forever. " " No man eat fruit 
of thee hereafter forever. n 

" There is a kind of tree which bears a large, green colored fig 
that ripens very early," says Dr. William Thomson. "I have 
plucked them in May from trees on Lebanon, a hundred and 
fifty miles north of Jerusalem, and where trees are nearly a 
month later than in the south of Palestine ; it does not, there- 
fore, seem impossible that the same kind might have had ripe 
figs at Easter, in the warm, sheltered regions of Olivet. The rea- 
son why he might seek fruit from this particular tree at that 
early day was the ostentatious show of leaves the fig often 
comes with, or even before the leaves, and especially on the 
early kind. If there was no fruit on this leafy tree it might 
justly be condemned as barren." 

The fig tree was a type of the Jewish people. They 
had the law, the temple, all its rites of worship, the ex- 
ternals of righteousness, but none of its fruits. i ' Jesus is 



TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE. 



417 



teaching by symbols. The tree is Israel. He — the 
same who planted it in days of old — goes to it expecting 
fruit, which its fair appearance warrants ; but finding 
none, he pronounces judicially upon it the sentence of 
destruction. " It is the same with the Jew or Gentile, the 
individual or the nation — Jesus expects fruit when there 
has been nurture, and the curse of God rests on the bar- 
ren and unfruitful. The disciples heard what he said to 
the tree. 

When Jesus came to the city and went into the tem- 
ple, he began to cast out those that sold and bought in 
the courts of the sacred edifice, and overthrew the tables 
of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold 
doves ; " And he would not suffer that any man should 
carry any vessel through the temple," and he taught the 
people who gathered to hear him, and said: "Did not 
Isaiah write, My house shall be called of all nations 
the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of 
thieves? " 

Neander says : 

" For the convenience of those from a distance who wished to 
offer sacrifices, booths had been erected in the temple court, in 
which everything necessary for the purpose was kept for sale, 
and money-changers were also allowed to take their stand there, 
but, as might have been expected from the existing corruption of 
the Jewish people, many foul abuses had grown up. Merchants 
and brokers made everything subservient to their avarice, and 
their noisy huckstering was a great disturbance to the worship 
of the temple." 

In the beginning of his public ministry Jesus had 
purified the temple, and now again, towards its close, he 
perforins the same act of cleansing. 

" The second cleansing of the Courts of the Temple seems to 
have taken the custodians of the place as much by surprise as 

18* 



4 1 8 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

did the first. They made no attempt to interrupt it, nor did 
they interfere with Jesus in the use to which he put the courts 
that he had cleansed. He remained to keep guard over the place, 
not suffering any man to carry even a common vessel across the 
court which the Jews had turned into a common thoroughfare. 
He remained for hours to occupy it, unchallenged ; the people 
flocked into it, and he taught them there. All this while the 
priests and the Levites, the rulers and the temple-guard are look- 
ing on bewildered, their earlier antipathy kindled into a ten- 
fold fervor of hate." 

And he did many gracious deeds. The blind and the 
lame came to him, and he healed the lame and restored 
sight to the blind. The children also praised him aloud 
in the temple, saying, ' ' Hosauna to the Son of David. ' ' 
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonder- 
ful things that he did, and heard the children ascribing 
praise to him as the Son of David, they were greatly 
displeased, and said to him, ' ' Hearest thou what these 
say?" and he answered them, "Yes. Have ye never 
read what is written in the Psalms, — out of the mouth 
of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise?" 
The rulers and teachers of the people could not see how 
children could know the Saviour, and were offended that 
they should join in his praise. The answer of Jesus an- 
gered them the more, and they sought to destroy him ; 
but they could not for fear of the people, who were at- 
tentive to him and astonished at his teaching. At the 
close of the day he withdrew and went out to the Mount 
of Olives, probably to Bethany, and spent the night. In 
the morning the people came early to the temple hoping 
to hear him. 



THE TWO SONS— WICKED HUSBANDMEN. 419 



CHAPTER LXXIX. 

THE TWO SONS — THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN. 

Matt. xxi. 20-32 ; Mark xi. 20-33 ; Luke xx. 1-8. — Jerusalem— Tuesday, the third 
day of the week, a.d. 30. 

/\ S Jesus and his disciples again on the following 
-*- ^- morning, Tuesday, wended their way to the 
city from Bethany, they saw as they passed by 
that the fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before was 
dried up from the roots. Peter at once called the atten- 
tion of the Lord to it, saying, "Master, the fig tree is 
withered away. ' ' Jesus answering, said, ' ' Have faith in 
God," and told them that if they exercised faith and had 
no doubt in their heart, they could not only do what he 
had done, but could by a word remove this mountain 
and cast it into the sea. He also told them that all 
things whatsoever they would ask in prayer, believing, ' 
they should receive, and that if they hope to be forgiven 
when they pray for forgiveness, they must forgive those 
against whom they had ought. From this we are to 
learn that no power in the performance of miracles need- 
ful would be withheld from the apostles at that time. 
"Prayer," it has been said, "moves the arm that 
moves the universe ; but it is faith that gives to prayer 
the faculty of linking itself with omnipotence and call- 
ing it to human aid." 

They came to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the 
temple and teaching the people and preaching the gos- 
pel, the chief priests and the elders and scribes came to 
him and demanded by what authority he "did these 



420 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

things," — to act as rabbi and prophet, to teach the peo- 
ple, to ride into the city amidst the shouting multitude 
and to drive the traders from the temple. These men, 
who were members of the Sanhedriu or Jewish Senate, 
constituted the sole authority in "these things," and 
felt called on to wait upon Jesus thus publicly, and to 
ask him who gave him the authority to regulate the re- 
ligious affairs of the Jews, which had been committed to 
them. 

The answer of Jesus put them to ignominious de- 
feat before the very people whom they had hoped to 
prejudice against him. Turning to them he replied, "I 
will also ask you one question, which, if you answer, I 
will likewise tell you by what authority I do these 
things; The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of 
men?" Pausing for a reply, and receiving none, he 
said, "Answer me." But they had no answer, they 
were in a dilemma and they reasoned among themselves 
aside and out of hearing, regarding what Jesus would 
say to their answer. "If we shall say from heaven, he 
will say, 'Why then did ye not believe him?'" and 
they knew that from the first they had rejected John and 
would not accept what he said respecting Jesus as the 
Christ. They continued, ' ' But if we shall say, of men ; 
we fear the people, for all men hold John as a prophet." 
They would not only have lost their influence with the 
people, but would have been in danger of violence from 
them, for they believed that John was a prophet indeed. 
Finally they were forced to the humiliating and untruth- 
ful answer, ' ' We cannot tell whence it is. ' ' Jesus re- 
plied, " Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these 
things." They could, if they would, have easily dis- 
covered by what authority Jesus worked and taught. 



THE TWO SONS— WICKED HUSBANDMEN. 42 1 

The Lord now relates to them a parable which con- 
tains his lesson for them. "But what think ye," he 
begins, and tells them of a man who had two sons. The 
father came to the first and said, ' ' Son, go work to-day 
in my vineyard," and he answered, "I will not," but 
afterwards repented and went. He came to the second 
likewise, who said, "I will go," and went not. Which 
of these did the will of his father ? asked Jesus, and they 
answered, "The first." Then he said to them, that the 
publicans and harlots, who were the greatest sinners, 
were repenting and entering the kingdom of heaven 
before them, for when John came " in the way of right- 
eousness " they believed not, but the "publicans and 
harlots believed him," and these Jewish rulers had seen 
it and neither repented nor believed. Thus he explained 
to them the solemn meaning of their own answer. 

In another parable Jesus spoke unto them of the vine- 
yard let out to wicked husbandmen, by which he meant 
to teach them their unfaithfulness to God and to their 
trust. The parable was at once history and prophecy, 
for, says Geikie, 

"The vineyard of God separated from the wilderness of 
heathenism was clearly Israel. The husbandmen were the 
priests, rabbis and Pharisees, to whom he had left his vine3 r ard, 
with the charge to tend it and to render him duly its fruits. The 
servants sent were the prophets. From their first appearance in 
the distant past to John the Baptist they had been despised, 
beaten, martyred — only one could follow them— the last and 
highest representative of God, who should command respect 
even from murderers. His only well-beloved Son, the Messiah, 
who had come, not as the nation had fancied, to bring them po- 
litical glory and earthly prosperity, but to receive the fruits 
which kept back for hundreds of years, could no longer be left 
unrendered. But Jesus, the Messiah, had long foreseen his fate. 
He had had it before his eyes every hour since his public entry 



422 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

into Jerusalem. He, the rightful heir of the vineyard, had been 
received by the husbandmen with jealous eyes and deadly pur- 
poses. The revolt he had come to end had grown rampant. It 
had risen from a refusal to render the fruits, to a rejection of 
their dependence and a daring resolution to take the vineyard 
into their own hands ; to cast out God in casting out him whom 
he had sent. The fierce anger of God could not long delay. The 
rebels, smitten by his wrath, must perish ; the vineyard must 
pass into other hands. But the others could only be the heathen, 
whom Israel despised. Loyal to the Son whom Israel had re- 
jected and slain, disciples and followers gathered from other na- 
tions, would be entrusted with the inheritance. Changing the 
figure, these would willingly accept, as the foundation and chief 
corner-stone of the new kingdom of God, him whom the first 
builders — of whom those now before him were the representa- 
tives — had rejected. Was there any doubt that God would trans- 
fer that kingdom to those thus loyal to his Son ? " 

He told them that those to whom this chief stone 
would become a stone of stumbling would be broken, 
and that those on whom it fell would be crushed to 
pieces. When the Pharisees and the chief priests per- 
ceived that he referred to them, they sought again to 
arrest him, but they feared the people, who believed that 
Jesus was a prophet, and who even then were thought 
to so favor him as to be ready to defend him against 
them. Those were terrible words: "The kingdom of 
God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bring- 
ing forth the fruits thereof. ' ' 



MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 423 



CHAPTER LXXX. 

MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 

Matt. xxii. 1-22 ; Mark xii. 13-17 ; Luke xx. 20-26.— Jerusalem, ad. 30 ; Tuesday, 

the third day. 

T~ T seemed to be " a day of parables. ' ' 

"The parable of the marriage of the king's son in its basis and 
frame-work closely resembles the parable of the Great Supper, 
uttered during his last journey at a Pharisee's house. But in its 
details, and in its entire conclusion, it is different," says Farrar. 
"Here the ungrateful subjects who receive the invitation not 
only make light of it, and pursue undisturbed their worldly avo- 
cations, but some of them actually insult and murder the mes- 
senger who invited them, and a point at which history merges 
into prophecy — are destroyed and their city burned. And the 
rest of the story points to still further scenes, pregnant with 
still deeper meanings. Others are invited, the wedding is fur- 
nished with guests, both bad and good ; the king comes in and 
notices one who had thrust himself into the company in his own 
rags, without providing or accepting the wedding garment, 
which the commonest courtesy required. This rude, intruding, 
presumptuous guest is cast out by attendant angels into outer 
darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth ; and 
then follows for the last time the warning, urged in varying 
similitudes, with a frequency commensurate with its importance, 
that many are called, but few chosen." 

"He was speechless." "What this man lacked," says a dis- 
tinguished writer, " was righteousness. He had not, according to 
the image of Paul, 'put on Christ,' in which putting on of Christ 
both faith and holiness are included. By faith we recognize a 
righteousness out of and above us, and wherewith our spirits 
can be clothed, which righteousness is in Christ, who is the 
Lord, our righteousness. A time arrives when every man will 
discover that he needs this covering, this array for his soul. It 



424 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

is woe unto him' who like this guest, only discovers it when it 
is too late to provide himself with such, and then suddenly 
stands confessed to himself in all his moral nakedness and de- 
filement." 

The meaning of our Lord in these parables, so far as 
they referred to the Jewish nation, was apparent to the 
people and their leaders. So that some of the Pharisees 
and the Herodians — two parties bitterly opposed to each 
other — came together to consult as to how they might 
entangle him in his talk, and accuse him before Pilate, 
and deliver him up to him for trial and punishment. 
They themselves watched him and employed and sent 
forth spies to feign themselves just men, to question him. 
The Herodians were the adherents of King Herod, who 
owed his power to the Roman emperor, and consequently 
they would be jealous for both Herod and Caesar. The 
Pharisees, on the other hand, were of the Jewish national 
party, and hated the usurper Herod and the heathen Ro- 
man conquerors. 

These two parties were enemies of each other, but 
they are now united by mutual hatred to Christ, 
and they watch him, while their minions, in the guise 
of men seeking instruction, put to him their artfully- 
framed question : ' ' Master, we know that thou art 
true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest 
thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of 
man, but teachest the way of God in truth ; tell us, 
therefore, what thinkest thou ; Is it lawful to give 
tribute to Caesar, or not ? Shall we give or shall we 
not give?" " Now, they thought, we will have him on 
one horn or the other of the dilemma ; for if he says, 
No, then he will place himself in antagonism with 
Rome, and incur arrest by Pilate ; and if he says, Yes, 






MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON. 425 

then he will oppose the Jewish nation, and have the 
people as well as the Pharisees against him. But they 
were themselves impaled by him. ' ' Perceiving at once 
their crafty wickedness and hypocrisy, he said : ' ' Why 
tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me a penny." 
They showed him a Roman denarius, with which they 
paid their custom duty, or tribute, to the Roman gov- 
ernment. The coin showed their bondage to Rome. 
Pointing out to them the likeness and name of the 
Roman emperor upon the coin, he asked them : 
1 ' Whose is this image and superscription ? ' ' They 
answered: "Caesar's." They could do no less. Then 
came his unexpected reply: u Render therefore to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things 
that are God's." The effect of this reply was to 
utterly silence them ; and, marveling at his answer, they 
left him and went their way. But for all time our 
Lord has taught the duty of obeying the powers that 
be, ordained, as they are of God,, to govern men ; but 
he has, none the less, emphatically here taught that God 
has a prior claim, and that men in their devotion to 
government are not to forget that God has a prior 
right to the tribute of their life and strength. 



426 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXXI. 

LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 

Matt. xxii. 33-46, xxiii. 1-39; Mark xii. 18-40; I/uke xx. 27-47. — Jerusalem, 
Tuesday, the third day, a.d. 30. 

^ I ^HE enemies of Jesus were very determined and 
-*- active, as the workers of iniquity ever are, and 
returned after each defeat to renew the conflict 
with him. The Pharisees and the Herodians had been 
silenced by him, and now, in the same day, there came 
to him the Sadducees, who, contrary to the teaching of 
the scriptures and of Christ, did not believe in the res- 
urrection of the body, nor in the future state of rewards 
and punishments, nor in the existence of angels, nor the 
separate existence of the soul after death. In order, by 
their reasoning, to throw discredit upon the doctrine of 
the resurrection, they tell him of seven brothers who, 
according to the law of Moses, had each, in succession, 
married the same woman and died childless ; and that, 
last of all, the woman died also. And they asked him 
which one of these brothers would have her as his wife 
in the resurrection. Jesus told them that they were in 
error from their want of knowledge of the scriptures 
and of the power of God. That the children of this 
world marry, but that they which shall be accounted 
worthy to attain that world, and the resurrection, when 
they shall arise from the dead, they neither marry nor 
are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in 
heaven, and are the children of God, being the children 
of the resurrection. Jesus went oil in defense of the 



LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 



427 



doctrine, to adduce, as proof of the resurrection and the 
immortality of the patriarchs, what God had said to 
Moses when he appeared to him in the burning bush. 
" Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at 
the bush." "God spake unto him saying; I am the 
God of Abraham; and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; 
for all live unto him." 

These patriarchs had long been dead and buried, and 
yet God speaks of them as living. That their souls 
were alive was so plain, and Jesus argued so well the 
resurrection of the body from the immortality of the 
soul, that these sceptical disputers — the Sadducees — 
"after that durst not ask him any question at all." 
Certain scribes said to him, " Master, thou hast said 
well." 

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had put to si- 
lence the Sadducees, to the astonishment of the people, 
they gathered themselves around him, for they were 
pleased with the defeat of their opponents ; and one of 
them, a lawyer or scribe, asked him, which was the first 
and greatest commandment of all ? Jesus answered 
somewhat as a scribe formerly had answered him. 
u Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord ; and 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all 
thy strength. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets." Thus, all of 
man's duty was summed up in one word — love. And 
the scribe, commending, added that, "To love God and 
man is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 
Jesus, when he saw that the lawyer had answered dis- 



428 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

creetly, said unto him; "Thou art not far from the 
kingdom of God." Again his enemies were afraid to 
question him. 

While the Pharisees were gathered about him in the 
temple Jesus asked them a question, " What think ye of 
Christ ; whose Son is he ? " They were the teachers of 
the people, and professed to know the scriptures, and 
had denied that he was the Christ. Since they knew so 
much, he proceeded to ask them some plain questions 
respecting their own Messiah and the scriptures concern- 
ing him. It was an embarrassing question, for the man- 
ner in which he had silenced them all when they ques- 
tioned him must have made them hesitate ; but they 
answered, "The Son of David." To this Jesus replies, 
u How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 
' The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right 
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool ?' " It 
may be that Jesus here paused for their reply, and, get- 
ting none, went on, " If David then call him Lord, how 
is he his son ? ' ' They did not answer, because they 
could not ; and they were afraid from that day to ask 
him any more questions. ' ' But the common people 
heard him gladly." 

" Could Abraham have called Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, or 
any of his own descendants, near or remote, his Lord ? If not, 
how came David to do so ? There could be but one answer, be- 
cause that Son would be divine, not human— David's Son by 
human birth — but David's Lord by divine subsistence. The 
true key to that announcement, in the one hundred and tenth 
Psalm, and to many similar prophecies, was wanting to the Jews 
so long as the true and proper divinity, as well as the true and 
proper humanity of their Messiah remained unperceived and un- 
acknowledged." 

Then Jesus addressed his disciples in the presence of 



LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 429 

all the people, and told them that the scribes and Phari- 
sees were the teachers, as Moses had been, and in his 
place, and that therefore they should observe what was 
taught by them, but not to follow their example; u for 
they say and do not;" they bind heavy burdens on others 
which they will not bear themselves; what they do is to 
be seen of men ; they make broad their phylacteries — that 
is, the slips of parchment worn on the forehead as a 
charm, on which were written passages from the Hebrew 
scriptures; they enlarge the fringe on their garments, 
worn to distinguish them from the heathen nations; they 
love the most honorable positions on couches at feasts, 
and tKe chief seats in the synagogues and respectful 
salutations in the market-places; they love to be called 
rabbi or master. Jesus told them to call no man master 
in religious things but himself; because his disciples are 
all brethren: to call no man father or ruler in church 
matters, for God is their Father; the greatest shall be 
the servant of all; he who will exalt himself shall be 
humbled, and the humble shall be exalted. 

He then denounces the scribes and Pharisees as hypo- 
crites, and pronounces a woe upon them, because they 
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither 
going in themselves when invited by him, nor allowing 
others to go in ; because they defraud widows of their 
possessions; and for the purpose of leaving the impres- 
sion that they are pious, continue long at their devo- 
tions; for all which their condemnation will be greater. 
He likewise denounces them for compassing sea and land 
to make one proselyte to their views, and then making 
him "more the child of hell" than themselves; for 
being blind guides, because they taught that to swear 
by the temple was nothing, but to swear by the gold of 



430 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

the temple was binding; that to swear by the altar was 
nothing, but that he who swears by the gift on the altar 
is guilty. He declares that to swear by heaven or by 
God's throne is to swear by God himself. Jesus also pro- 
nounces a woe npon them, because they pay the tithes of 
mint, anise and cummin and omit the weightier matters 
of the law, — judgment, mercy and faith — in which they 
strain out a gnat and swallow a camel; because they are 
so particular to be clean in outward things while they 
are full of extortion and excess; because they are like 
whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but 
are within full of uncleanness; because they tenderly 
care for the tombs of the prophets, whom their fathers 
killed, and fill up the measure of their fathers' guilt by 
doing likewise. Then follow those awful words of min- 
gled prophecy, warning and woe: u Ye serpents! ye 
vipers ! how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? 
Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise 
men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and 
crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your 
synagogues and persecute them from city to city; that 
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon 
the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood 
of Zachariah, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between 
the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you all 
these things shall come upon this generation. O, Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem ! thou that stonest the prophets and 
killest those that are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth 
her chickens under her wings, but ye would not. Behold 
your house is left unto yon desolate. For I say unto 
you, Ye shall not see me henceforth until ye shall 
say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 



LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 431 

Jesus sat in the temple over against the coffers with 
trumpet-shaped mouths, for the reception of the offerings 
of the people for the temple service. And there came a 
poor widow and threw in two mites, or the smallest 
pieces of brass coin in use among the Jews and in value 
about two mills and a half, or one-fourth of a cent. 
Jesus said to his disciples that this woman had cast in 
more, in proportion to her means, than all the others, 
who gave of their abundance or store, for she had given 
her all. 

John, in speaking of the effect of the final work and 
teaching of Jesus, says, "Yet they believed not," as 
Isaiah hath said, ' ' Who hath believed our report ?' ' 
He also quotes from Isaiah, who saw Christ's glory, as 
to the condition in which they were left because they 
would not. Therefore they could not be healed 
and were left unsaved. Nevertheless John continues, 
"Many of the chief rulers believed on him, but for 
fear of the Pharisees they did not confess him for 
fear of being put out of the synagogue ; for they loved 
the praise of men more than the praise of God." The 
final words of Jesus before he left the temple were sad and 
plaintive. He told them that he that believed on him 
believed on him that sent him ; that he that had seen 
him had seen the Father ; that whosoever believed on 
him as the light of the world should not abide in dark- 
ness ; that God would judge him who believed not ; that 
he came into the world not to judge the world but that all 
might be saved ; that he had spoken and taught what 
he did by the command of God ; "and I know that his 
commandment is everlasting life." 



432 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXXII. 

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 

Matt. xxiv. 1-51 ; Mark xiii. 1-37 ; I^uke xxi. 5-35.— Mount of Olives, Tuesday, 
third day of the week, a.d. 30. 

TTAVING delivered the preceding solemn words, 
-*- -^ Jesus, accompanied by his disciples, departed 
from the temple and went upon the Mount of 
Olives, from which they looked upon the temple in all 
its glory ; with its goodly stones and splendid offerings 
and its nine golden gates and columns of Corinthian 
brass glittering in the sunlight. As he sat looking at 
the temple, his disciples spoke to him about the won- 
derful buildings covering the temple area and the temple 
itself, the very emblem of solidity, strength and stabil- 
ity. Jesus said, ' ' Seest thou these great buildings ? 
There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall 
not be thrown down. "... 

While thus wondering and talking together, Peter, 
James, John and Andrew came to him privately and 
asked him, When shall these things be? and, What 
shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the 
world? "The double question of the disciples — first, 
respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, and especially 
the time when it was to happen ; and second, respecting 
the signs of his advent, and of the end of the world — 
required a double answer ; the two parts referring each 
to one of two events." "Much that our Lord said 
might be applied to both these events, both these 
' comings ' being, in fact, comings to judgment ; but 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 433 

towards the close his language grew more distinctly ap- 
plicable to his final coming to judge the world." 

Jesus told them that many would come in his name, 
claiming to be the Christ, but they must not be de- 
ceived ; they must not be troubled when they hear of 
wars and rumors of wars, for kingdom will rise against 
kingdom and nation against nation, and famine, pesti- 
lences and earthquakes will take place in various places 
before the end shall come. "All these are the begin- 
ning of sorrows. ' ' Then his disciples will be delivered 
up to councils, beaten in synagogues, brought before 
rulers and kings, be imprisoned and killed — all for his 
name's sake and as witnesses against their oppressors. 
But they were not to trouble themselves as to what they 
shall speak, for the Holy Spirit will direct them and 
will give them a mouth and wisdom that their adver- 
saries cannot resist. He warns them also that many 
will fall away and that his disciples will be hated, perse- 
cuted, betrayed and even put to death by their nearest 
relatives simply because they are Christians. "And be- 
cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax 
cold;" but adds the comforting assurances, "He that 
endureth to the end the same shall be saved," and 
" There shall not a hair of your head perish." This is 
taken to mean primarily that Christians should escape 
the terrible sufferings of the siege of Jerusalem. . . 
More remotely to the final salvation of those who prove 
faithful despite all their afflictions and trials to the end 
of life. 

Said Jesus also, "This gospel of the kingdom shall 
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all 
nations ; and then shall the end come." If by "the 
end" is meant the destruction of Jerusalem and the 

19 



434 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

temple, then there is evidence that this prophecy was 
fulfilled. 

" It appears, from credible evidence, that the gospel was 
preached in Idumea, Syria and Mesopotamia by Jude ; in Egypt, 
Marmoria, Mauritania and other parts of Africa by Mark, Simon 
and Jude ; in Ethiopia by Candace's eunuch and Matthias ; in 
Pontus, Galatia and the neighboring parts of Asia by Peter ; in 
the territories of the seven Asiatic churches by John ; in Parthia 
by Matthew ; in Scythia by Andrew and Philip ; in the northern 
and western part of Asia by Bartholomew ; in Persia by Simon 
and Jude ; in Media, Carmania and several eastern parts by 
Thomas ; through the vast tract from Jerusalem round about 
unto Illyricum by Paul ; in most of which places Christian 
churches were planted in less than thirty years after the death of 
Christ, which was before the destruction of Jerusalem." 

Paul tells the Romans that ' ' The sound of the gospel 
had gone forth into all the world, and their word to the 
end of the earth ;" and to the Colossians he says that 
the truth of the gospel had come u To all the world, 
being preached to every creature." Christ's words, if 
applied to ' ' the end ' ' of the world, mean that the gos- 
pel is to be preached in all the world to all nations and 
to every creature in the same sense. 

Some of the signs of the end of the Jewish economy 
he mentions. Jerusalem shall be surrounded by armies, 
and the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, shall be seen standing in the holy place. 
Then all his disciples in Judea were to flee unto the 
mountains for refuge. It will not be safe for those on 
the house-top to save their goods, nor for those in the 
fields to return home even for a garment, but they must 
flee at once out of the city and home for safety, to the 
hills, to escape the day of vengeance. Daniel had pre- 
dicted the destruction of the second temple before it was 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 435 

built, and here Christ tells by what signs they shall know 
that the destruction is at hand. The ' ' abomination of 
desolation in the holy place ' ' denotes the Roman army 
at the gates of the holy city, come to make it desolate, 
with those abominations, the images of their emperor 
and gods on their standards. Jesus predicts the sorrows 
of those times. 1 1 They shall fall by the edge of the 
sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, 
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles 
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The 
trials would be beyond endurance, "but for the 
elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, those days shall be 
shortened." 

These admonitions saved many Christians the horrors 
of the siege. Cestus first came with his army and 
besieged Jerusalem, but for some unaccountable reason 
withdrew, which enabled the Christians to take refuge in 
flight, before Titus came to capture and demolish the 
city. ( ' Taking advantage of the space before the siege 
was formed by Titus, they departed in a body to Pella, a 
village beyond Jordan, which became the seat of the 
church of Jerusalem till Hadrian permitted their re- 
turn." 

Jesus warned his disciples not to be deceived by the 
signs and wonders promised by false Christs and 
prophets. When he himself comes, it will be like the 
lightning, sudden, but unmistakable and all pervading. 
1 ' Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be 
gathered together," is- a reference to the Roman eagles 
pursuing the fugitives. The signs that in those days 
shall follow the tribulation of those days, are: "The sun 
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of 



436 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

heaven shall be shaken; " and upon the earth, distress of 
nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things that are coming on the earth. "Then 
shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds 
with great power and glory, and then shall he send 
his angels and shall gather together his elect from 
the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of 
the heaven. ' ' 

The fig-tree is given as an illustration. They could tell 
from its leaves when summer is near, and so can this 
generation tell when his coming is at hand, although the 
precise day and hour was known only to God. ' ' The 
images here used are not to be taken literally. They are 
often used by the sacred writers to denote any great 
calamities." Reference is here made both to the fall of 
Jerusalem and to the final coming of Christ. "At the 
destruction of Jerusalem the evidence of his coming was 
found in the fulfillment of these predictions. At the 
end of the world the sign of his coming will be his per- 
sonal approach with the glory of his Father and the holy 
angels. ' ' His people shall rejoice, but others shall trem- 
ble with fear. To be ready is their duty. 

He likened the kingdom of heaven to a man who left 
home for a long journey and before going gave authority 
to his servants and to every man his work. In view of 
the certainty and suddenness of his com'ng in judgment, 
and of the impending utter destruction which shall come 
upon the Jewish nation and upon the whole world, as 
the flood came in Noah's day, he urges upon his own 
disciples watchfulness, as faithful and wise servants who 
are waiting hourly for their Lord's coming. He warns 
them against becoming weary, because their Lord may 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 437 

delay his coming beyond their expectation. "Take 
heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is, 
lest coming suddenly he may find you sleeping, or en- 
tangled with the affairs of this life." Finally, Jesus 
says: "And what I say unto you, I say unto all, 
watch. ' ' 




438 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXXIII. 

THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS. 
Matt. xxv. 1-46. — Mount of Olives— Tuesday— third day, a.d. 30. 

JESUS, in order to impress on his disciples the duty 
and necessity of constant watchfulness, related to 
them the parable of the ten virgins. When Jesus 
comes it shall be as it was when the ten virgins went out 
at midnight with their lamps to meet the bridegroom, 
who was about to bring home his bride. Five of them 
were wise, for they provided themselves with vessels of 
oil with which to supply their lamps, and five were fool- 
ish, for they took no oil with them. While they waited 

for the bridegroom, 
whose arrival was de- 
layed, they all slept. 
At midnight the cry 
was heard : " Behold 
the bridegroom com- 
eth. Go ye out to 
meet him." Those 
virgins who were un- 
provided with oil 
found their lamps had 
gone out, and, failing 
to get a supply from 
their companions, 
who had only enough for themselves, they went to buy. 
But while they were gone the bridegroom arrived and 
went into his house, and the door was shut. The 




BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH. 




THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS. 



439 



damsels that were ready went in with him, but those that 
were unprepared arrived too late to go in, and the door 
being shut they are refused admittance. Barnes says : 

1 ' Iu the celebration of 
marriages in the east, at 
the present day, many of 
the peculiar customs of an- 
cient times are observed. 
' At a Hindoo marriage,' 
says a modern missionary, 
' the procession of which I 
saw, some years ago, the 
bridegroom came from a 
distance and the bride lived 
at Serampore, to which 
place the bridegroom w T as 
to come by water. After 
waiting two or three hours, 
at length near midnight it 
was announced in the very 
words of scripture : ' Behold 
the bridegroom cometh. Go 
ye out to meet him.' All 
the persons employed now 
lighted their lamps and 
ran with them to fill up their stations in the procession ; some of 
them had lost their lights and were unprepared, but it was then 
too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the 
house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large 
and splendidly illuminated area before the house, covered with an 
awning, w T here a great company of friends, dressed in their best 
apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in 
the arms of a friend and placed in a superb seat in the midst of 
the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the 
house, the door of which was immediately shut and guarded by 
Sepoys. I and others expostulated with the door-keeper, but in 
vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable as 
at this moment, ' and the door was shut.' " 




THE WISE VIRGINS. 



440 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



These ten virgins represent the whole church waiting 
for the coming of the bridegroom — Christ. The burning 
lamps denote outward profession, while the oil represents 
abundant supplies of inward grace. The five wise vir- 
gins stand for those who are prepared for the coming 
Lord. Even after an unexpected delay, when he comes 
at length, they enter with him into the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. The foolish virgins denote those who idle 

away their time that 
should be used in get- 
ting ready for the com- 
ing of their Lord, and 
are at length shut out 
from his presence and 
glory. In the parable 
of the ten virgins the 
friends of the bride- 
groom are waiting for 
him, and in the follow- 
ing parable of the ten 
talents, the servants of 
the householder are 
working for him, but 
in the main these two 
parables teach the one 
the) foolish virgins. lesson: "Be ye also 

ready, for in such an hour that ye think not, your Lord 
doth come. ' ' 

A man meditating a journey into a far country put into 
the hands of his own servants his goods, in talents of sil- 
ver. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to 
another one — "to every man according to his several 
ability" — and then took his departure. After a long 




THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS. 441 

time the lord returned and asked from each servant an ac- 
count. The servant who had five talents had traded with 
and doubled them, and he returned to his lord ten talents. 
His lord said: "Well done, thou good and faithful ser- 
vant. Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will 
make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into 
the joy of thy lord." Likewise he said to the servant 
who had doubled his two talents, and returned to his lord 
four. Both were commended not for success, but for 
their faithfulness, and both were promoted. But the 
servant who received the one talent said : u Lord, I knew 
thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast 
not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed ; 
and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the 
earth ; lo ! there thou hast that is thine." In answer the 
lord calls him wicked, as well as slothful, and censures 
him for not, at least, putting his money out at interest. 
Taking the talent from him, he gave it to him who had 
the ten talents, and ordered the unprofitable servant to 
be cast into outer darkness, where there shall be weep- 
ing and gnashing of teeth, for unto every one that hath 
shall be given, and he shall have abundance. 

U A11 receive their native capacities, their opportuni- 
ties, their characters and their circumstances from God. 
He bestows them not as a gift, but as a trust, and for 
their use thereof they will be called to account. Our 
Lord assures us that no use is a sin as well as misuse, 
neglect as well as flagrant disobedience. The whole 
parable pivots on the words, unprofitable servant, and it 
is so living as neither to grow in grace himself nor to 
edify others." 

The description of the general judgment that follows 
these parables is both impressive and appalling, and was 

19* 



442 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



given in answer to the disciples' question respecting the 
end of the world. Jesus tells them that when the Son 
of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels 
with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory ; 
and before him, as the king and judge of the world, shall 
be gathered all nations and he shall separate them ac- 
cording to character, one from another, just as an eastern 
shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. The judge 
shall place the sheep of his fold — the righteous— on his 

right hand, .the place 
of honor; but the 
goats — the unright- 
eous — on his left 
hand, the place of 
dishonor. "Then 
shall the King say to 
them on his right 
hand, 'Come, ye 
blessed of my Father: 
inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from 
the foundation o f 

LORD, OPEN TO US. ft^ WQrld . T was an 

hungered and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty and ye 
gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in ; 
naked and ye clothed me ; I was sick and ye visited me; 
I was in prison and ye came unto me." And when the 
righteous, with unaffected surprise and humility, ask 
him, when they did this, the King answers, "Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me." Then shall he say 
to those on his left hand : ' ' Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 




THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS- 443 

angels ; for I was an hungered and ye gave me no meat ; 
I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink ; I was a stranger 
and ye took me not in ; naked and ye clothed me not ; 
sick and in prison and ye visited me not.' ' And when 
these express their surprise and ask, when they had 
treated him so, he replies, "Inasmuch as ye did it not 
unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me ;' ' 
"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, 
but the righteous into life eternal." 
Says Dr. Brown: 

11 What claims does the Son of man here put forth for himself ! 
He is to come in his own glory ; all the holy angels are to come 
with him ; he is to take his seat on his throne ; it is the throne of 
his own glory ; all nations are to be gathered before him ; the awful 
separation of the two great classes is to be his doing ; the word 
of decision in both, ' 3-e blessed,' ' 3-e cursed,' is the word of 
command, to the one, ' come,' to the other, ' depart,' to the king- 
dom, to the flames ; all this is to be his doing. But most aston- 
ishing of all, the blissful or the blighted eternity of each one, of 
both classes, is suspended upon his treatment of him — is made 
to turn upon those mysterious ministrations from age to age 
to the Lord of glory disguised in the persons of those who love 
his name : ' Ye did thus and thus unto me. Come, ye blessed !' 
1 Ye did it not to me. Depart, ye cursed !' In that ' me ' lies an 
emphasis, the strength of which only the scene itself and its 
everlasting issues will disclose. Verily, 'God is judge himself,' 
but it is God in flesh, — God in one who is ' not ashamed to call 
us brethren." 



444 7HE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvXXXIV. 

THE SUPPER AT BETHANY AND THE PASCHAL MEAL. 

Matt. xxvi. 1-25 ; Mark xiv. 1-21 ; Luke xxii. 1-18, 24-30 ; John xii. 2-8, xiii. 1-30. — 

Mount of Olives, Bethany, Jerusalem ; fourth, fifth and sixth days of the 

week, beginning at sunset, a.d. 30. 

"\ "\THEN Jesus had finished these solemn instruc- 
^ ^ tions he turned to his disciples, and after say- 
ing that the feast of the Passover, or of 
unleavened bread, would be observed after two days, he 
announced, "The Son of man is betrayed into the hands 
of sinners. ' ' The disciples did not know at the time, 
but afterward they knew, that while Jesus was foretell- 
ing his death, the chief priests and scribes were then 
assembled in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, 
consulting together how they might take him by craft 
and put him to death, for they were afraid to arrest him 
openly because of the people, who were still disposed to 
favor and defend him. "Not on the feast day," they 
said, "lest there be an uproar among the people." But 
the people were more fickle than the rulers thought and 
were soon to be persuaded to join in the cry, ' ' Crucify 
him!" 

From the Mount of Olives, where these words were 
probably uttered, Jesus went to Bethany, and on the same 
day — Wednesday — Simon made him a supper. Simon 
had been a leper and had probably been cured by the 
Lord. The feast seems to have been given at the house 
of Lazarus, for he, Mary and Martha were all present. 
Simon may have been some relation of the family. 



SUPPER AT BE THANY AND PASCHAL MEAL .445 

Martha, as usual, served, but Mary brought an alabaster 
box of a pound of costly and fragrant oil of spikenard, 
and broke it and anointed the head and feet of our Sa- 
viour as he reclined at table, and wiped his feet with her 
hair. The sweet perfume filled the house. The disci- 
ples found fault with her, and Judas, who betrayed him, 
complained of the waste. This should have been sold, 
said he, and the three hundred pence — or forty dollars — 
it would have brought should have been given to the 
poor. This he said, because he carried the purse for 
Jesus and for all the disciples and was a thief. But 
Jesus defended the woman and rebuked his disciples. 
u Let her alone, why trouble ye her ?" He told them that 
she had come beforehand to anoint his body for the burial. 
She did not thus intend it, but in this way Jesus received 
it. In answer to Judas he said, ' ' The poor ye have 
always with you, and whenever ye will ye may do them 
good ; but me ye have not always. She hath done me 
a good work." "Verily I say unto you, that wherever 
this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there 
shall also this that this woman hath done, be told for a 
memorial of her." 

We are informed by the record that this was the occa- 
sion when Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, one of the 
twelve, and tempted him to betray his Lord. It may be 
that his disappointment and the Lord's rebuke led him 
to this sin, for he went at once to the chief priests and 
captains and arranged how he might betray Jesus to 
them. ' ' What will ye give me and I will deliver him 
unto you ?" And they were glad and agreed to give him 
thirty pieces of silver. From that time he sought oppor- 
tunity to betray Jesus in the absence of the multitude. 

The next day, the fifth day of the week, or Thursday, 



446 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

the fourteenth of Abib or Nisan, answering to parts of 
our March and April, before the Passover, found Jesus 
still at Bethany. ' ' The first day of unleavened bread, 
called so because no food with yeast was used, closed on 
the evening of this day at sunset. It was between three 
o'clock and dark, on this day, or between the two even- 
ings, that the preparations for the Passover were made, 
and the paschal lamb was slain, which was to be eaten 
after sunset, which was the beginning of Friday. The 
disciples asked Jesus where they were to observe the 
Passover that they might go and make ready. Jesus 
sent Peter and John, saying, c ' Go prepare us the Pass- 
over that we may eat," meaning thereby the paschal 
lamb and supper. He told them to go to Jerusalem, and 
that there they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of 
water, whom they were to follow home, and when they 
had entered his house they were to say to him, "The 
Master saith, ' My time is at hand ; I will keep the Pass- 
over at thy house with my disciples ; where is the guest- 
chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disci- 
ples?'" And, continued Jesus, "He will show you a 
large upper room, furnished ; there make ready. ' ' The 
two disciples went and did as Jesus told them. They 
met and followed the man, were shown into the upper 
room and there made ready the Passover against the 
coming of Jesus and the rest of the disciples. That 
night, in that room, Jesus observed the Passover for the 
last time in his life, and instituted the Christian ordi- 
nance of the Lord's Supper. 

Says Dr. G. W. Clark : " In the evening, after sunset, 
the beginning of the fifteenth Nisan, the paschal lamb 
was eaten." When the hour of the evening, the begin- 
ning of Friday, or the sixth day of the week, came, Jesus 



SUPPER AT BETHANY AND PASCHAL MEAL. 447 

sat down with his disciples to eat the Passover. He said 
to them, "With desire have I desired to eat this Pass- 
over with you before I suffer ; for I say unto you that I 
will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the 
kingdom of God." He took the cup, and after giving 
thanks, gave it to them to divide among themselves, 
saying, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until 
the kingdom of God is come." This was a cup belong- 
ing to the Passover, and not to the supper. 

These references to the speedy coming of the kingdom 
seem again to awaken the worldly ambition of his disci- 
ples, and there was a strife among them as to who should 
be accounted the greatest. Jesus gently rebukes them, 
and tells them that they are not to exercise authority 
over one another, as the kings of the Gentiles do, but 
that he who would be chief shall be servant of all. " I 
am among you as one that serveth." Jesus then said to 
them that he had appointed them a kingdom for their 
service to him, as his Father had appointed him, and 
that they shall eat and drink at his Father's table in his 
kingdom, and shall sit on thrones judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 

It was during this Passover meal that Jesus set the ex- 
ample of humility before his disciples by washing their 
feet. He did this in full view of the fact, which he 
knew before, that his time had come to go to the Father, 
being fully aware that Judas was about to betray him ; 
knowing also that the Father had given all things into 
his hands, that he had come from God and was to return 
to God ; knowing all this, and in order to testify his un- 
dying love to his disciples, and to teach them the great 
lesson of humility, he arose from supper, laid aside his 
outer garments, girded himself with a towel and washed 



448 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

his disciples' feet and wiped them with the towel. Peter 
protested. He wanted to wash his Master's feet, but 
Jesus said to him that he could not know now what was 
meant by it, but should know hereafter, and that he 
could have no part with him if he refused to be washed 
by him. Then Peter yielded, saying, " Lord, not my 
feet only, but also my hands and my head. ' ' Jesus said, 
He that is washed needs only to wash his feet. Ye are 
clean, — that is, regenerated, — but not all, for Judas the 
traitor was not regenerated. Hence he said, " Ye are not 
all clean." After he had finished, he resumed his place at 
the table and explained the meaning of what he had 
done: " If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed 
your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet." 
Jesus evidently had no intention here of instituting a 
religious rite, like the ordinance of baptism or the 
supper, but simply by performing an act of hospitality 
— usually left to servants — to teach them the great 
lesson, that humbly serving was the characteristic of 
the greatest in his kingdom : "If ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them." He adds, however, re- 
ferring to Judas, who would betray him, ' ' I speak not 
of you all ; I know whom I have chosen. But that 
the scriptures may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with 
me, hath lifted up his heel against me." 

The Passover meal was then resumed. While they 
were eating, Jesus, with troubled spirit, told them that 
one of them should betray him. And they were sor- 
rowful, and first looked on one another, doubting of 
whom he spoke, and then one by one they asked, 
"Lord, is it I?" "The Son of man indeed goeth as 
it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom 
the Son of man is betrayed. It had been good for 



SUPPER AT BETHANY AND PASCHAL MEAL. 449 

that man if he had never been born." John, the be- 
loved disciple, was reclining next to Jesus at the table, 
leaning upon Jesus' bosom, and so Peter motioned to 
him to ask Jesus privately of whom he spoke. Jesus 
replied that it was one of the twelve, the one to whom 
he would give a morsel of bread after he had dipped it 
in the dish of sauce, and he gave the sop to Judas 
Iscariot, son of Simon, thus indicating who it was that 
would betray him. Judas, last of all, asked, "'Is it I?" 
and Jesus replied, "Thou hast said." After the sop 
Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "That 
thou doest do quickly." The disciples thought that 
Jesus sent him to buy something for the feast, or to 
give to the poor. Judas went out immediately, and it 
was night ; ' ' but there was far blacker night in the 
soul of Judas than in the sky over his head. ' ' 




GARDEN OF GETHSEMANF,. 



45° 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXXV. 

THE LORD'S SUPPER INSTITUTED. 

Matt, xxvi 26-29 5 Mark xiv. 22-25 ; Luke xxii. 19-20, 31-38 ; John xiii. 31-38 ; 
1 Cor. xi. 23-26.— Jerusalem, Friday, a.d. 30. 

y\ FTER Judas had gone out Jesus said, ' ' Now is 
-*- -**- the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in 
him." Then he addressed his disciples as little 
children, and told them that he would be with them 
only a little while. They would seek him, but he would 
say to them, as he had said to the Jews, that they could 
not find him — they must for the present be separated. 
U A new commandment give I unto you," he said, 
( ' that ye love one another, as I have loved you. By 
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples." 
Peter, seeming not to understand, inquired as to where 
he was going, and Jesus answered that he could not fol- 
low at that time, but should afterward. Peter wanted 
to know why not, but Jesus replied, " Simon, Satan 
hath desired to sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for 
thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, 
strengthen thy brethren." Peter replied confidently, 
' ' Ivord, I am ready to go with thee both to prison and to 
death." Our Saviour answers, " I tell thee, Peter, that 
the cock shall not crow this day, before thou shalt thrice 
deny that thou knowest me." Jesus then asked them 
whether they lacked support when he sent them forth to 
preach, and, replying that they had not, he said, that 
now they must go provided with scrip, purse and sword; 
and that he who had none had better sell his mantle and 



THE LORD'S SUPPER INSTITUTED. 



45* 



buy one, because all things must be accomplished that 
were written of him. They answered that they had two 
swords among them, and he said, "It is enough." 
They had misunderstood him. He meant simply to in- 
timate that he would now send them forth alone into an 
unfriendly world, where they were to be wise as serpents 
and harmless as doves. Yet it is still true that the 
laborer is worthy of his hire, and his kingdom is not to 
be extended by the sword. 

It was while thus engaged, at the table in the guest 
chamber, on the night in which he was betrayed, and 
when the Passover meal was finished, that Jesus insti- 
tuted the supper as an ordinance to be observed by his 
church till the end of time. He took bread and blessed 
it, and brake it and gave to his disciples, saying, Take, 
eat, this is, or represents, my body which is given and 
broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 
Then likewise after supper he took the cup in which 
was the fruit of the vine, and, after giving thanks, gave 
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is, or rep- 
resents, my blood of the New Testament which is shed 
for ycu and for many for the remission of sins ; this do, 
as often as ye do it, in remembrance of me. For as 
often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show 
the Lord's death till he come. But I say unto you that 
I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until 
that day when I drink it new with you, in my Father's 
kingdom. 

Although John does not give us any account of the 
supper, yet the omission is more than supplied by Paul. 
Says Geikie : 

' ' The apostles could have had no simpler or more unmistak- 
able intimation that, as of old, the blood of the Passover Lamb 



452 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

redeemed the people of God from the sword of the angel of 
wrath, so his blood would be a ransom for man from far deadlier 
peril. A covenant to them implied a sacrifice ; and his blood as 
the new covenant was therefore sacrificial ; the blood of a cove- 
nant which pledged his followers to faith and duty ; the blood of 
a new Paschal Lamb with which his disciples must, in a figure, 
be sprinkled that the destroying angel might pass over them in 
the day of judgment. They saw in this new institution an abid- 
ing memorial of their Lord ; a vivid enforcement of their depend- 
ence on his death, as a sacrifice for their salvation ; the need of 
intimate spiritual communion with him as the bread of life ; and 
the bond of the new brotherhood he had established." 

Dr. Adams says : 

' ' This table was provided by a sacrifice which exhausted the 
treasury of heaven. God, manifest in the flesh, spread it in per- 
son, with his own hands. These two symbols only, simple, 
plain, dependent on no forms for their efficacy, nor on the vessels 
which held them, whether of gold or silver or of wood or earth, 
are the Lord's Supper. Their single signification is the Lord's 
death ; an object remaining the same from the beginning until 
he come ; thus beautifully holding us in communion with all the 
people of God in times past and at present, amid changes of all 
other customs, and also setting our faces toward that great event, 
his final coming. ' Ye do show the Lord's death until he come,' 
judge of the living and of the dead, in the glory of his Father 
and of his holy angels ; and such is he who spread, who fur- 
nished this table and calls to every human being, ' This do in re- 
membrance of me.' " 



VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES. 



453 



CHAPTER LXXXVI . 

VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES. 
John xiv xv. xvi. xvii.— Jerusalem, Guest-Chamber, Friday ; A d. 30. 

"AtAHE 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th chapters of John," says Dr. 
I Lyman Abbott, " are the Holy of Holies of the Bible. 
Christ is about to depart from his disciples ; the cloud of 
the coming trouble casts its shadow on their hearts; he sees clearly, 
they feel vaguely the impending tragedy. They are to behold their 
Master spit upon, abused, execrated; the}' are to see him suffering 
the tortures of a lingering death upon the cross; they are to be 
utterly unable to interfere for his succor or even for his relief; 
they are to see all the hopes which they had built on him extin- 
guished in his death. It is that he may prepare them for this ex- 
perience, that he may prepare his disciples throughout all time 
for similar experiences of world-sorrow, and that he may point 
out to them and to the church universal the source of their hope, 
their peace, their joy and their life — moral and spiritual — that he 
speaks to the twelve, and through them to his discipleship in all 
ages, in these chapters, and finally offers for them and for us that 
prayer, which we may well accept as the disclosure of his eternal 
intercession for his followers." 

While reclining at the table, in the guest-cham- 
ber, after the supper had been instituted, the Lord, 
thinking not of himself, but of his disciples, uttered 
those memorable words of consolation which have 
been so precious to all Christians. " Let not your 
hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also 
in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it 
were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a 
place for you." He promised to come again and take 
them to dwell with him there. Thomas declared that 



454 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

they did not know where he was going and hence could 
not know the way. He replied, "I am the way, the 
truth and the life;" or the true and living way: and "no 
man cometh to the Father but by me." Philip says, 
' ' Show us the Father. ' ' Jesus replied, ' ' Have I been 
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, 
Philip?" "He that hath seen me, hath seen the 
Father." 

Jesus then appealed to the disciples to believe him for 
the work's sake; and promised that those who believe in 
him shall do greater works than he himself, because he 
was going to his Father; that whatsoever they should 
ask in his name would be done. He urged them, if they 
loved him, to keep his commandments; and he would 
pray the Father to give them another Comforter — the 
Spirit of truth; whom the world could not receive. He 
promised not to leave them orphans, but to come again; 
though he would disappear from the world, yet he would 
still for a while reveal himself to them. Judas — not 
Iscariot — asked how it was he meant to manifest himself 
to them and not to the world. Jesus replied, that if a 
man loved him he would keep his commandments, and 
his Father would love and abide with him. The Holy 
Spirit, the Comforter, would teach them all things and 
bring to their remembrance whatsoever he had said to 
them. He promised also to give them his peace. He 
admonished them not to be troubled; he would come 
again. If they loved him they would rejoice, because he 
was going to his Father. He had told them before it 
came to pass that they might believe. The prince of 
this world was coming, but would find nothing in him. 

Jesus then said, ' ' Arise, let us go hence ; ' ' but we are 
not informed that he then carried out his intention of 



VALEDICTOR V DISCOURSES. 455 

leaving that upper room. It may have been that they 
rose from their reclining position at table, and that 
while they were thus standing, prepared to leave the 
room, that Jesus concluded his valedictory and offered 
his intercessory prayer. In substance he repeats what he 
has said both in the final discourse and in the prayer. 
Speaking of this discourse Dr. Abbott says: 

" It is sympathetic, not philosophical or critical; it is addressed 
to sympathetic friends, not to a cold or critical audience; and it 
is to be interpreted rather by the sympathies and spiritual expe- 
rience than by a philosophical analysis. It sets forth the source 
of all comfort, strength, guidance and spiritual well-being in the 
truth of the direct personal presence of a seemingly absent but 
really present, a seemingly slain but really living, a seemingly 
defeated but really victorious Lord and Master. This truth ap- 
pears and reappears in various forms in these chapters, like the 
theme in a sublime symphony. . . . Thus these chapters of John 
contain a disclosure of the very heart of Christianity, the per- 
sonal knowledge of a living God by direct communion with him, 
as a teacher, a comforter, an inspirer, the one and the only true 
source of faith, hope and love." 

Jesus had been dwelling upon his impending depar- 
ture, but he now proceeds to speak of the relation which 
is to subsist between him and his church. He said that 
he was the true vine, they the branches, and his Father 
the husbandman; that the branch that bore no fruit was 
cut off, and the branch that bore fruit was pruned to 
make it bear more, and that as branches they could bear 
no fruit, apart or separate from him, the living vine. 
Abiding in him they would bring forth much fruit, but 
those who did not abide in him would be cast forth as a 
branch to wither and be burned. If they were in him 
and his words in them, they could ask what they would 
and it would be done to them. He exhorted them to 
continue in his love and to keep his commandments as 



456 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

he had kept his Father's commandments. He told them 
that he had spoken these things to them that his joy 
might remain in them and their joy be full. The great- 
est love one could show another was to die for him, yet 
they were his friends if they did whatsoever he com- 
manded them. They were not his servants, but his 
friends. They had not chosen him, but he had chosen 
them to do his will and to bring forth fruit. He re- 
minded them that the servant was not greater than his 
Ivord; that the world had rejected his word and perse- 
cuted him because they knew not God, and that for his 
sake they too would be hated. His example, teaching 
and works, such as no man ever did among men, left the 
world without cloak or excuse for sin. The words of the 
prophet were fulfilled, "They hated me without a cause." 
Again he promised to send the Comforter to testify of 
him, and they also would be his witnesses because they 
had been with him from the beginning. 

Jesus then told his disciples that his reason for reveal- 
ing these things to them was that they might not fall 
because of him, when they would be put out of the 
synagogues and when men would put them to death, 
thinking that they were doing God service. Because he 
was going to the Father, sorrow had filled their hearts; 
but it was necessary for him to go, for otherwise the 
Comforter would not come. If he departed he would 
send them the Comforter, whose work would be to re- 
prove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment — 
of sin, because they believed not on him; of righteous- 
ness, because he was going to the Father ; and of judg- 
ment, because the prince of this world was judged. The 
Spirit of truth would guide and reveal God's things 
which were his, also things to come, which they were to 



VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES. 457 

speak. They were puzzled to know what he meant by 
a little while they should not see him and again a little 
while they should see him, because he was going to the 
Father. He said that they would weep and lament, but 
the world would rejoice ; and that the sorrow of his dis- 
ciples would be turned into joy, like the mother who 
rejoices over her new-born son. They would rejoice 
when they saw him again and no one could deprive them 
of their joy. He urged them to begin to pray in his 
name, that their joy might be full. He had spoken in 
proverbs, but would now speak plainly. The Father 
loved them as he loved the Son. He had come from the 
Father into the world and was going back now to the 
Father. ' ' Now speakest thou plainly, and speak est no 
proverb," they said. " Now we are sure that thou know- 
est all things, and needest not that any man should ask 
thee : by this we believe that thou earnest forth from 
God." But Jesus asked, u Do ye now believe?" And 
said. The hour is at hand when you will be scattered 
and leave me alone, but the Father will not forsake me. 
In the world they would have tribulation, but they should 
be of good cheer because he had overcome the world. 

From this discourse we pass to the ' ' innermost sanc- 
tuary " of the Saviour's final communion with his 
beloved disciples. ' ' For the first time we are allowed to 
listen to what was really the Lord's prayer." 

Then Jesus, still standing with them in this upper 
room, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, 
the hour is come," and prayed that the Father might 
glorify the Son and the Son glorify the Father. He de- 
clared that the Father had given him power over all men 
to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given 
him ; and that eternal life was to know God and Jesus 
20 



458 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Christ whom he had sent ; that he had glorified the 
Father on earth and finished the work given him to do ; 
and now he asks to be glorified with the Father with 
the glory he had with the Father before the world was. 
He declared in his prayer, how he had made known the 
Father to his disciples. How they had known and be- 
lieved that the Father had sent him. Continuing, he 
said, " I pray for them," and u not for the world." He 
had kept all of them save ' ' the son of perdition. ' ' He 
prayed not that they might be taken out of the world, 
but be kept from the evil ; that they whom he was about 
to send forth into the world might be sanctified through 
his truth. Jesus before had prayed for them alone, but 
now he prays for all who shall be brought to believe on 
him through their spoken or written word, that they may 
be one, as the Father is in him and he in the Father, 
that they may be one in Father and Son, that the world 
by such unity may believe that the Father had sent him. 
i ' O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee ; 
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou 
hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, 
and will declare it ; that the love wherewith thou hast 
loved me may be in them and I in them." 

"With this lofty thought the Redeemer closes his 
prayer for his disciples, and in them for his church 
through all ages. He has compressed into the last mo- 
ments given him for conversation with his own the most 
sublime and glorious sentiments ever uttered by mortal 
lips. But hardly has the sound of the last word died 
away when he passes with the disciples over the brook 
Cedron to Gethsemane, and the bitter conflict draws on. 
The seed of the new world must be sown in death, that 
thence life may spring up. ' ' 



460 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IyXXXVII. 

THE AGONY IN GETHSEMANE AND THE ARREST. 

Matt. xxvi. 30-56 ; Mark xiv. 26-52 ; Luke xxii. 29 ; 40-52 ; John xviii. 1-11. — Jeru- 
salem and the Mount of Olives, Friday, a.d. 30. 

TT was, perhaps, after this prayer when Jesus and 
-*- his disciples sang a hymn, and then went out 
into the darkness through the streets out of the 
city and across the brook Cedron, to the Mount of 
Olives. As they went Jesus said to his disciples, ' c All 
ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is 
written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the 
flock shall be scattered abroad." "But after I am 
risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Peter 
declared that though all should be offended because of 
him, yet he would not be, but Jesus said again, This 
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me 
thrice. Peter still more vehemently said, ' ' Though I 
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. ' ' Like- 
wise said all the disciples. 

Then they came to a garden, where they were ac- 
customed to resort, on the western slope of the Mount of 
Olives, called Gethsemane, into which they entered, and 
Jesus said to them all, "Take heed that ye enter not 
into temptation." He told them to be seated on the 
ground while he went a little beyond to pray. Taking 
Peter, James and John, he went with them apart from 
the others and began to be very sorrowful and over- 
whelmed with great anguish. Then he said to them, 
" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry 
ye here and watch with me. ' ' And he went a little fur- 



THE AGONY AND THE ARREST. 



461 



ther into the garden, and kneeling with his face to the 
ground, prayed alone : " O my Father, if it be possible 
let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as I will 
but as thou wilt." " And there appeared an angel unto 
him from heaven, strengthening him." His agony was 
so great that his sweat was, as it were, great drops of 
blood falling to the ground. When he arose and came 




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VIEW IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 



to the three disciples he found them sleeping for sorrow, 
and he said to Peter, "What ! could ye not watch with 
me one hour ? Watch and pray that ye enter not into 
temptation. . The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is 
weak." And he went away the second time and prayed : 
"O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from 
me except I drink it, thy will be done." He came and 
found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, and 
they knew not what to say to him. He left them and 



462 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

prayed the third time the same words. Then he came to 
them and said, " Sleep on, now, and take your rest. Be- 
hold the hour is at hand and the Son of man is betrayed 
into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Be- 
hold, he is at hand that doth betray me. ' ' 

Says Hanna : 

1 ' Passing with Jesus from the upper chamber into the gar- 
den, one of the first impressions made upon us is that of the 
suddenness and greatness of the transition described within 
the compass of the same hour. What a contrast between the 
prayers of the one place and of the other ! the one so calm, so 
serene, so elevated, the other so dark and troubled. Look first 
at him, as, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he offers the one ; 
look at him again, as, prostrate on the earth, with his gar- 
ments moist with sweat and blood, he offers up the other. 
What a mighty n^sterious descent from that height above to 
these depths beneath and how rapidly described." 

Farrar says : 

" It could have been no mere dread of pain — no mere shrink- 
ing from death which thus agitated, to its inmost centre, the 
pure and innocent soul of the Son of man. How inconsistent 
such an hypothesis with that heroic fortitude which, fifteen 
hours of subsequent sleepless agony could not disturb ; with 
that majestic silence before priest and procurator and king ; 
with the endurance from which the extreme of torture could 
not wring one cry ; with the calm and infinite ascendency 
which overawed the hardened and worldly Roman into invol- 
untary respect ; with the undisturbed supremacy of soul which 
opened the gates of paradise to the repentant malefactor. It 
was something far deadlier than death. It was the burden and 
mystery of the world's sin which lay heavy on his heart — it 
was the tasting, in the divine humanity of a sinless life, the 
bitter cup which sin had poisoned. It was the sense, too, of 
how virulent, how frightful must have been the force of evil in 
the universe of God which could render necessary so infinite a 
sacrifice." 



THE AGONY AND THE ARREST. 463 

Says Hanna : 

• ' We feel ourselves shut up to the conclusion that the agony 
in the garden was inward, mysterious, impossible to fathom ; 
the same in source, in ingredients, in design, in effect with our 
Lord's spiritual suffering on the cross ; a part of the endurance 
to which, as our spiritual head and representative, he submitted, 
and which sprang from our iniquities being laid on him. In 
agony and manner this is not open to us to comprehend. He 
bare our sins in his own body on the tree, offering there not 
merely or mainly his body to the Roman executioner, but his 
soul in sacrifice to God. Consummated on the cross, this soul- 
offering was made also in the garden. Jesus spake of an hour 
and a cup which became so identified in the minds of the evan- 
gelists that they are used interchangeably in their narrative of 
the passion. The hour and the cup were one, embracing the 
entire suffering unto death. The hour was on him, he passed 
through it ; the cup was in his hand, he put it to his lips and 
drank it equally in the garden and on the cross. In passing 
through that hour and drinking that bitter cup, he made the 
great atonement for our transgressions. To that endurance we 
are to look for the ground of our forgiveness and acceptance. 
Spread over all of our Lord's suffering life, it was condensed 
in the agony of the garden and the anguish of the cross. Why ? 
But that in the sight of such a sorrow descending upon the 
Saviour's spirit, in that absence of all afflictions from without, 
we might learn to separate in our thoughts the mental and 
spiritual from the bodily sufferings of Christ ; to recognize the 
truth of the saying that the sufferings of his soul formed the 
soul of his sufferings." 

Judas Iscariot knew that Jesus was accustomed to re- 
sort to the garden of Gethsemane, and having received 
a band of men and officers from the chief priests and 
Pharisees, the scribes and the elders, he brought them 
there bearing lanterns and torches, and the Roman guard 
armed with swords and staves. Jesus had announced to 
the now awaking disciples the approach of the traitor, 
who came at once upon them with a great multitude, to 



464 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



arrest the Lord, whom he had agreed to designate by a 
kiss. Jesus knew all this, so he asked, "Whom seek 
ye?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." He re- 
plied, "I am he." The effect on them was startling. 
" They went backward and fell to the ground." Again 
he asked them whom they sought, and received the same 
answer. " If ye seek me, let these go their way ;' ' re- 




THE BE^TRAYAI,. 

ferring to his disciples and thus fulfilling scripture, ■ ' Of 
them that thou gavest me I have lost none. ' ' Judas had 
said, ' ' Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Take 
him and lead him away safely." So Judas now puts it 
beyond all doubt as to which one was Jesus by going 
forward and saying, "Hail, Master," and kissing him. 
"Friend," said Jesus, "wherefore art thou come?" 
The guard then laid hands on him and took him. Then 
said the disciples to Jesus, ' ' Shall we smite with the 
sword ?' ' And without waiting for a reply, Peter drew 
a sword and cut off the right ear of a servant of the high 
priest, named Malchus. Then Jesus said to Peter, Suffer 
ye thus far. Put up thy sword. The cup which my 



THE AGONY AND THE ARREST. 465 

Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? For all 
they that take the sword shall perish by the sword. 
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions 
of angels ? But how then shall the scriptures be ful- 
filled that thus it must be ? Turning to the captain of 
the temple, chief priests and elders who had come to 
arrest him, Jesus said, "Are ye come out as against a 
thief, with swords and staves for to take me ? I sat daily 
with you in the temple and ye laid no hold on me. But 
this is your hour and the power of darkness. The 
scriptures must be fulfilled." Then all the disciples 
forsook him and fled. However there was one, a young 
man, who followed Jesus as they were leading him away. 
He had a linen cloth cast, in his haste, around his body. 
The Roman soldiers tried to arrest him, supposing him 
to be one of the disciples, but leaving his linen cloth in 
their hands, he fled. 

Says Dr. W. R. Williams : 

" If ever it appeared that there might be just revolt against the 
will of providence, it seemed to be at the time when the meek 
Saviour, lowly and loving, was sold by the traitor, deserted by 
his disciples, assailed .by the false accuser and condemned by the 
unjust judge, while a race of malefactors and' ingrates crowded 
around their deliverer, howling for his blood— the blood of the 
holy one. But though the cup was bitter it was meekly drunk, 
for it had been the Father's will to mingle it and his was the hand 
that held to the lips of the Son the deadly draught. Lawlessness 
is hushed at the sight of Gethsemane. In the garden and at the 
cross you see illustrated the sanctity of law as nowhere else." 

20* 



466 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 

JESUS BEFORE ANNAS. 
John xviii. 12-14, I 9 _2 3- — Jerusalem. 

JESUS, when arrested in the garden, was bound and 
led away by the band of Roman soldiers, headed 
by their captain and the officers of the Jews, into 
the city and to the palace of the Jewish high priest, 
where he was tried, or rather went through the forms of 
trial. His condemnation and death were predetermined 
by his enemies, who, having planned his arrest, were 
awaiting his arrival. It was their determination to rush 
through with the mock trial and secure at once the ap- 
proval of Pilate to his death before Jerusalem was aware 
of their designs. They feared to arrest him in the tem- 
ple before the people, who were his friends, for the most 
part. Hence the secret midnight arrest and hasty trial. 
To be public or tardy would be to spoil their plot. The 
Roman soldiers halted at the door, for their presence 
would be defilement to the Jewish palace. 

Jesus was taken first before Annas, who was not then 
the high priest, but had for seven years occupied that 
office twenty years before, and who was the father-in- 
law of the high priest in office at that time — Joseph 
Caiaphas, who occupied the same house with him. Why 
Jesus was taken before Annas first we do not know, un- 
less it was because he had been high priest, and because 
of his age, his influence with Herod and Pilate, and, more 
likely still, because he was the prime mover in bringing 
Jesus to death. He was probably the chief conspirator. 



JESUS BEFORE ANNAS. 467 

For half a century either he or one of his family had oc- 
cupied this high office. There was a time when this ex- 
alted religious office was held only by the descendants of 
Aaron, but when a foreign heathen power had conquered 
the Jews, and placed upon the throne of David the 
Herods, the sacred office became a political gift, to be 
bestowed, not upon the worthiest and fittest for the posi- 
tion, but upon him who would serve best the foreign des- 
pot or his deputy in Judea. 

Hence, as we might expect, "this Hanan, son of Seth, 
the Ananus of Josephus, and the Annas of the evange- 
lists," was a bad man. " In spite of his prosperity he 
seems to have left behind him an evil name, and we 
know enough of his character, even from the most 
unsuspected sources, to recognize in him nothing better 
than an astute, tyrannous, worldly Sadducee, unvener- 
able for all his seventy years, full of a serpentine malice 
and meanness, which utterly belied the meaning of his 
name, and engaged at this very moment in a dark, 
disorderly conspiracy, for which even a worse man 
would have cause to blush. It was before this alien and 
intriguing hierarch that there began, at midnight, the 
first of that long and terrible trial. ' ' 

The motives that led to the persecution and final ar- 
rest of Jesus furnish us with some explanation of the 
course of the trial. As Herod was alarmed when he 
heard of the birth of the king of the Jews, so the scribes 
and elders felt that they were losing their hold upon the 
people through the teaching of Jesus. He rebuked their 
hypocrisy, and the sin of their lives, and their false doc- 
trines and formalisms, exposing them in the light of his 
own pure spiritual teaching. Besides, he had purged the 
temple publicly, and driven out those whose trade was a 



468 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

source of great revenue to the mercenary high priest 
himself, and thus he had touched his pecuniary inter- 
ests and profits, and hence he sought to get rid of him. 
Especially to the Sadducees did Jesus render himself ob- 
noxious, for to them his character, habits and teaching 
seemed to be diametrically opposed. 
Farrar says : 

"It is most remarkable, and, so far as I know, has scarcely 
ever been noticed, that, although the Pharisees undoubtedly 
were actuated by a hatred against Jesus, were even so eager for 
his death as to be willing to co-operate with the aristocratic and 
priestly Sadducees — from whom they were ordinarily separated 
by every kind of difference, political, social and religious — yet, 
from the moment that the plot for his arrest and condemnation 
had been matured, the Pharisees took so little part in it that their 
name is not once directly mentioned in any event connected with 
the arrest, the trial, the decisions or the crucifixion. The Phari- 
sees, as such, disappear — the chief priests and elders take their 
place." 

Their total want of sympathy with the Sadducees, 
their natural mildness of disposition, their secondary 
place in the administration of affairs, and the influence of 
some very distinguished men of their sect, who were 
avowed friends of the Saviour, led the Pharisees to with- 
draw, apparently, from the trial, condemnation and death 
of Jesus. 

This infamous ex-high priest, fearing to lose his rev- 
enue from the temple traffic, and his power with the 
people through Jesus, had only feelings of bitter con- 
tempt and hatred towards the meek prisoner before 
him, and began the investigation by asking Jesus 
about his disciples and doctrines. The calm answer of 
the Lord conveyed a sharp reproof. The trial was 
irregular and illegal. It was secret and by night, con- 



JESUS BEFORE ANNAS. 469 

trary to the Jewish law, and there were no witnesses to 
sustain the accusation, nor counsel, as was required, 
to defend the prisoner. The crafty priest seeks to make 
Jesus criminate himself. To his questions, asked in hope 
of his revealing who his secret friends or teachings were, 
Jesus replied, " I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught 
hi the synagogues and in the temple, whither the Jews 
always resort ; and in secret have I said nothing. Why 
askest thou me ? Ask them who heard me, what I have 
said unto them ; behold, they know what I said. ' ' The 
truth was that Annas was but too well informed, and the 
Jews crowding his chamber were also familiar with the 
teachings of Jesus. 

But it was only one step from hatred of heart to open 
violence, and for the first time the face of Jesus is smit- 
ten, and that, too, by a slave, before the professed dis- 
penser of justice. As soon as Jesus made his reply, 
an officer who stood by struck him with the palm of 
the hand, saying, " Answerest thou the high priest so ? " 
Again the quiet rebuke came from the lips of the inno- 
cent sufferer, u If I have spoken evil bear witness of the 
evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me ? ' ' We recall 
the time when Paul was smitten before the council, and 
when, in righteous indignation, he said to the high 
priest, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall." But 
the Master shows greater patience and endurance than 
his illustrious servant. His reply was temperate and 
yet not without the due severity of the same righteous 
indignation that was displayed by Paul. 



470 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER IvXXXIX. 

EXAMINED BY CAIAPHAS. 

Matt. xxvi. 57, 59-68 ; Mark xiv. 53, 55-65 ; I^uke xxii. 54, 63-65 ; John xviii. 24.— 

Jerusalem. 

IT was yet night when Annas sent Jesus, bound, 
across the court-yard of the palace to the apart- 
ments of Caiaphas, the high priest, who, with some 
of the chief priests and elders, were awaiting the com- 
ing of their distinguished prisoner. Joseph Caiaphas, the 
same who said that it was needful for one to die for the 
nation, and his co-conspirators formed a commission or 
part of the Sanhedrin, and had met together to carry 
out their prearranged plan to destroy Jesus. But they 
wanted to give the whole examination at least the form 
of trial. Hence they conducted the trial in a different 
way. Caiaphas meant to show no mercy to Jesus. In- 
stead of asking questions to entrap him, as Annas did, 
they now "sought false witness against Jesus to put 
him to death." They found many willing to testify 
falsely, but their testimony was contradictory. How- 
ever, two false witnesses were found who testified — one 
that Jesus said, "We have heard him say, I will destroy 
this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I 
will build another made without hands ; ' ' the other, ' ' This 
fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and 
to build it in three days." "But neither did the wit- 
nesses agree together," for Jesus did not say, "I am 
able," nor yet, " I will," but he did say, "Destroy this 
temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 



EXAMINED BY CAIAPHAS. 471 

The high priest arose from the cushion on which he 
sat and said, "Answerest thou nothing? What is it 
that these witness against thee ? " It seems strange to 
us that such a foolish charge, even if true, should be for 
a moment entertained against any one by an august 
court. Jesus seemed to regard them as beneath his 
notice, and did not even see fit to correct the falsehood. 
He "answered nothing." 

But this silence only excited his questioner the more. 
Perhaps the high priest had for a moment a grave sus- 
picion that, after all, this silent and dignified person be- 
fore him might be the long-expected Messiah. Heuce 
he asked Jesus the most important of all questions, and 
yet without any intention of receiving the answer, or of 
accepting him, or of hesitating in his murderous course. 
It was an awful moment when the high priest, standing 
with outstretched hands towards heaven, asked him, in 
the name of God, whether he was the Christ or not: " I 
adjure thee in the name of the living God, that thou tell 
us whether thou be the Son of God." Jesus replies: "I 
am; hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the 
right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven." 
"Then they all exclaimed, Art thou then the Son of 
God ? " "Ye say that I am," was the affirmative reply. 
At this the high priest in pretended horror rent or tore 
his costly garment, saying, " He hath spoken blasphemy; 
what need we further witnesses? Behold, you have 
heard his blasphemy." " He is guilty of death." And 
they all with one accord condemned him to death. 

He was now regarded as a heretic worthy to be stoned 
to death. But this was not the Sanhedrin — only in the 
morning could the whole body be assembled, and only 
in the hall of judgment. There were some probably 



472 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

who had no sympathy with these midnight proceedings. 
The sanction of the entire council in full session was 
necessary to give even the form of legality to the sentence. 
This was the second illegal stage of the trial. There 
was another awaiting him, before the Jewish Sanhedrin, 
composed of the chief priests, scribes and elders of the 
people, with the high priest as president of the body. 
Meantime, while awaiting the dawn, Jesus is given over 
to the custody of the servants and hurried through the 
court-yard to the guard-room, with blows and curses, in 
which not only the attendant menials, but even the cold, 
but now infuriated soldiers, take part. The men who 
guarded him mocked and buffeted him, and even were 
so vile and insulting as to spit in his face. Others blind- 
folded him, and then smote him with the palms of their 
hands on the face, saying, " Prophesy unto us, thou 
Christ, who was it that smote thee ? And many other 
things blasphemously spake they against him." 



PETERS DENIAL. 



473 



CHAPTER XC. 

PETER'S DENIAL. 

Matt. xxvi. 58, 69-75 ; Mark xiv. 54, 66-72 ; X,uke xxii. 54-62 ; John xviii. 15-18, 
25-27. — Jerusalem. 

UPON the arrest of Jesus, his disciples all forsook 
him and fled, but afterward three of them re- 
turned and followed, to see what might be done 
with him — the young man, probably Mark, whom they 
seized and who fled, leaving his outer garment in their 
hands; Peter, who followed "afar off" until they reached 
the high priest's residence; and John, who was known to 
the high priest and went in with Jesus into the place or 
court-yard in the centre of the house. Afterwards John 
came to Peter, who was still standing without, probably 
having been refused admission because he was not 
known, and interceding with the porter, brought him in. 
Far better if the impetuous Peter had remained away 
from the scene and hour of temptation. 

The night was cold and a fire of coals was kindled on 
the stone floor, or in a brazier in the hall or court, which 
probably opened to the sky; and the officers and servants 
gathered around it and sat down together. Peter first 
stood with them and then sat down among them, to 
warm himself and to see the end. He hoped for the 
best, but feared the worst. At one end of the court, on 
a raised platform, sat the high priest with Jesus and his 
accusers before him. While Peter thus sat by the glow- 
ing fire, one of the servants of the high priest, the young 
girl who had kept the door, looked earnestly into his 



474 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

face, now lighted up by the fire, and said to him, ( ' Art 
thou not one of this man' s disciples ? ' ' Peter an- 
swered, "I am not." The question was unexpected 
and the denial prompt and quick. " Thou also wast 
with Jesus of Nazareth," persisted the maid; and 
Peter replied, ' ' Woman, I know him not. ' ' Moreover 
before them all he declared that he knew not what she 
meant. 

Peter, confused, went out into the porch or passage- 
way to the outside, where another maid said to those 
that were there, ' ' This is one of them ; ' ' and a man 
who stood by accused him directly, ' ' Thou art 
also of them ; ' ' but again he denied with an oath, 
"I do not know the man." About one hour after- 
wards another said, ' ' Surely thou art one of them, 
for thy speech betrayeth thee." One of the servants 
of the high priest, who stood near Peter by the 
fire, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, 
recognized him and asked, "Did not I see thee in the 
garden with him ? ' ' Others also joined in the accusa- 
tion, and then " Peter began to curse and to swear," and 
denied Jesus again, saying, "I know not the man." 
Immediately the cock crew the second time, and Jesus 
hearing his boldest apostle denying him with oaths, 
turned about and cast upon Peter a look so full of sor- 
row, love, compassion and tenderness that his heart was 
broken. Remembering the words that Jesus had said to 
him, ' ' Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me 
thrice," he went out of the palace, and as he thought of 
what had happened, of the Saviour's warning and his own 
professions and sinful denial of his Lord, he wept bit- 
terly, shedding tears of true repentance and godly sorrow 
for his sin. Peter was a genuine believer, for he re- 



PETER'S DENIAL. 475 

turned. Jesus had told him that Satan desired to sift 
him like wheat, and now he has done so. But Jesus also 
said, I have prayed that thy faith fail not. That prayer 
was answered, and Peter was saved to proclaim boldly 
the gospel of Christ. 

u As his fault was sudden and surprising, so was his 
recovery speedy and effectual. From henceforward he 
became again the same faithful, affectionate, undaunted 
Peter he had been before. The book of the Acts informs 
us at large what noble reparations he afterwards made for 
this breach of faith ; how forward and even joyful in 
suffering for the gospel of his once denied Lord. All 
which are testimonies of greater value, because these were 
the long and constant practice of a settled faith, — the 
course of many years, the habit and sense of the man : — 
whereas his crime, though exceeding great, was of short 
continuance ; the effect of fear and infirmity, in great 
measure, and not so much the act of the man, as the 
effect of violent passions and temptations, which had 
then almost unmanned him." " Christ saw that he had 
in him the noble material of a vital and victorious 
apostleship. ' ' 



476 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XCI. 

THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN. 

Matt, xxvii. i-io ; Mark xv. i ; I^uke xxii. 66-71 ; Acts i. 18, 19.— Jerusalem. 

^ I ^HE Jewish Sanhedrin was a tribunal or supreme 
-*- court having the power to try certain cases. 
Before it false prophets were tried. It was com- 
posed of seventy, or seventy-two persons, including the 
chief priests, or those at the head of the twenty-four 
classes of the priesthood ; the elders, or the men of age 
and experience in the several tribes ; and the scribes, or 
lawyers who were learned in the Jewish law. The pres- 
ident was generally the high priest. The members of 
the council sat in a half-circle on divans, while the high 
priest, with the oldest of the members to his right, sat 
on an elevated cushion or carpet between the two ends 
of the semi-circle. The place of meeting was in the 
southeast corner of the temple building, in the hall 
called Gazzith. The accused and the witnesses stood 
before the president, and the recorders of the trial sat on 
both sides. 

" Like most other matters in the Judaism of the times, nothing 
could be fairer or more attractive on paper— but on paper alone 
— than the rules for the trial of prisoners. The accused was in 
all cases to be held innocent till proved guilty. It was an axiom 
that ' the Sanhedrin was to save, not to destroy life.' But," con- 
tinues Geikie, "rules so precise and so humane condemn the 
whole trial of Jesus before Caiaphas as an outrage. So keenly, 
indeed, has the judicial murder of Jesus been felt by the Jewish 
nation in later times, that the doctrine was afterwards invented 
in the Talmud, that any one who gave himself out as a false 



THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN. 477 

Messiah, or who led the people astray from the doctrines of their 
fathers, could be tried and condemned the same day, or in the 
night. Yet, in contradiction to this, the monstrous fable was 
also coined, that a crier called aloud, for forty days before 
Christ's condemnation, for witnesses in his favor to come 
forward." 

The morning dawns, and while it was yet early Jesus 
is removed by the Jews who had him in charge from 
the dwelling of the high priest to the temple, where the 
other members of the council already await his coining 
in the paved hall. When these scheming Sadducees en- 
tered the court-room they doubtless found there the chief 
Pharisees. Here was conducted the third trial of our 
Lord, but the first legal and formal one before the Jews. 

' ' Well-nigh all — for there were the noble exceptions of Xico- 
demus and of Joseph of Arimathea, and, we may hope, also of 
Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel — were inexorably bent upon his 
death, The priests w T ere there, whose greed and selfishness he 
had reproved ; the elders, whose hypocrisy he had branded ; the 
scribes, whose ignorance he had exposed ; and, worse than all, 
the worldly, skeptical, would-be philosophical Sadducees, always 
the most cruel and dangerous of opponents, whose empty sapi- 
ence he had so grievously confused. All these were bent upon 
his death ; all filled with repulsion at that infinite goodness ; all 
burning w T ith hatred against a nobler nature than any which 
they could even conceive in their loftiest dreams. And yet their 
task in trying to achieve his destruction was easy." 

They needed the vote of the entire Sanhedrin in full 
session assembled to sanction the decision of the mid- 
night trial before the high priest. Besides, they must 
have a charge upon which to bring him before the 
Romans. The whole council must hear what was said 
in the house of Caiaphas before the few, and they must 
formally condemn him, and as a body present him to 
Pilate for execution. They hoped, too, to obtain, upon 



478 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

another trial, some accusation against him of a political 
nature, such as Pilate would be forced to notice. 

Here again was the silence of the patient sufferer 
maintained. "Asa sheep before his shearers is dumb, 
so he opened not his mouth." The question of the 
former trial is repeated that all may hear, ' ' Art thou the 
Christ? Tell us." He said unto them, "If I tell you, 
ye will not believe. And if I also ask you, ye will not 
answer me, nor let me go." Well did Jesus know the 
unfairness, unbelief and hatred that filled their hearts. 
He knew that they would never accept him as the 
Jewish Messiah whom they professed to look for, nor 
even allow him to go free as innocent. They had 
already determined upon his death. Nevertheless he 
answered substantially as before, ' ' Hereafter shall the 
Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. ' ' 
Then they all said, " Art thou then the Son of God? " 
He answered them, " Ye say that lam." Understand- 
ing this as an affirmative answer, they all exclaimed in 
harmony, "What need we any further witness? For 
we ourselves have heard of his own mouth." Thus 
seemingly the whole court, or council, reaffirmed the 
sentence pronounced at the former trial held in private. 
That he was worthy of death for blasphemy in claiming 
to be the Son of God the most of them believed, and so 
declared, but even the great Jewish Sanhedrin had no 
power to put him to death. They hoped to see him ex- 
ecuted by the Romans on the shameful and cruel cross ; 
hence they took him to Pilate. 

Judas, who betrayed his Lord, must have witnessed 
the first stages of the trial. We are told that ' ( he saw 
that he was condemned." We cannot imagine him 
openly standing in the presence of Caiaphas among the 



THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN. 479 

witnesses or spectators, or even where he could be seen 
as Peter was, but skulking and hiding from the presence 
of the Master whom he had betrayed. Judas never 
meant to deliver Jesus to death. He did not anticipate 
the result of his treacherous act. But it is ever so with 
sin, and those who open the gates for it can never stop it 
at pleasure, nor can they ever tell where it will end. 
Judas was a lover of money from the beginning, and a 
thief in practice. 

Judas never seemed to realize what he had done in be- 
traying his Lord, until the action of the Sanhedrin to 
take him before Pilate convinced him that the Jews 
were bent upon his crucifixion. Now he is filled with 
horror, and when too late, he bitterly repents of his awful 
sin. But his repentance was not like that of Peter. 
Judas destroyed himself, but Peter returned to his Lord, 
whom he thereafter served faithfully to the end. His 
first act is to seek out the chief priests and elders, who 
had not yet left the temple, and to confess to them his 
great sin. What strong testimony he bears to his Mas- 
ter when he says, U I have sinned in that I have be- 
trayed innocent blood." He brought again to them the 
thirty pieces of silver which they had paid him for his 
treachery. Perhaps he had hoped to save Jesus; at least 
he expected to find some sympathy in his remorse, from 
the ministers of religion; but their heartless reply to him 
was: "What is that to us? See thou to it." They 
had tempted him to crime, but it was not their business 
to rescue their miserable victim. Such ever is the 
heartlessness of the wicked. 

Judas could endure it no longer. If they would not 
let him restore the money, neither would he keep it, for 
it had lost all the charm it once had for him, so casting 



480 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

the thirty silver coins upon the temple floor at their feet, 
he hastens from their sight, and plunges into the despair 
of the lost. " He went out and hanged himself." His 
awful end is thus described by Luke in the Acts of the 
apostles; "Falling headlong, he bursts asunder in the 
midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was 
known to all the dwellers in Jerusalem." Hanging 
himself probably to the limb of a tree, near the edge of 
some precipice, the limb broke or the rope gave way, and 
he fell and met the awful fate described. These Jews, 
who would not hesitate at the murder of the innocent 
Son of God, "were too scrupulous to take back money 
that had been paid to procure the death of a person, or 
blood-money," as they deemed it; so they purchased 
( ' the potters' field, in which to bury strangers, ' ' and 
Matthew informs us that when he wrote his gospel it was 
still called "the field of blood," the same which Luke 
calls * ' Aceldama. ' ' It was, of course, never the inten- 
tion of Judas to so spend the money he received, but this 
was the miserable end of all his schemes. 

In this, as in all other things relating to the sufferings, 
death and resurrection of Jesus, the scriptures were ful- 
filled. Jeremiah had written this striking language, 
never thought of at the time by the traitor or by his 
seducers; "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the 
price of him that was valued, whom they of the children 
of Israel did value ; and gave them for a potters' field, 
as the Lord appointed me." It may have been that 
these Jewish rulers thought thus to provide a fitting 
burial-place for the Christ whose death they felt so sure 
of accomplishing, but in the way of their designs stood 
the word of God: " He made his grave with the wicked 
and with the rich in his death, because he had done no 
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." 



BROUGHT BEFORE PILA TE. 48 1 



CHAPTER XCII. 

BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE. 

Matt, xxvii. 2, 11-14; Mark xv. 1-15 ; Luke xviii. 1-5 ; John xviii. 28-38.— 
Jerusalem. 

PONTIUS PILATE was the Roman governor of 
Judea. Roman provinces were either senatorial 

or imperial. ' ' The latter were governed by mil- 
itary officers, who held their office and power at the 
pleasure of the emperor. They looked after the taxes, 
paid the troops, preserved order and administered a rude 
sort of justice. From their decision there was ordinarily 
no appeal, except in the case of a Roman citizen. 
Judea was an imperial province ; Pontius Pilate was its 
governor or procurator, and was directly amenable to the 
emperor, Tiberius Caesar, for his administration." Un- 
like the other judges of Jesus, Pilate was not influenced 
by malice, but, convinced of his innocence, was anxious 
to save his life. Yet Pilate's name has been handed 
down in history as worthy of eternal execration for what 
he had to do with the crucifixion of his innocent victim. 
He was the sixth Roman governor, and owed his ap- 
pointment to the influence of Sejanus. 

Pilate, whose seat of government was at Caesarea, was 
at Jerusalem usually during the Jewish festival of the 
Passover, when great numbers of Jews collected in that 
city from all parts of the land and the world, in order, 
by his presence, to guard against the danger of tumult 
and insurrection incident to large gatherings. At Jeru- 
salem he occupied sometimes the castle of Antonia and 

21 



482 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

at others the new palace of Herod the Great. At this 
time he doubtless occupied the magnificent palace of 
Herod, "surpassing all description," rather than the 
soldiers' barracks in the castle, because his wife was 
with him. 

It was in this abode that Jesus was arraigned before 
Pilate. After the Sanhedrin had settled by vote upon 
their verdict of death, the ' ' whole multitude of them 
arose, and when they had bound Jesus, they led him 
away from Caiaphas into the hall of judgment, and de- 
livered him to Pontius Pilate." u It was probably 
about seven in the morning that, thinking to overcome 
the procurator by their numbers and their dignity, the 
imposing procession of the Sanhedrists and priests, 
headed, no doubt, by Caiaphas himself, conducted Jesus, 
with a cord round his neck, from their hall of meeting, 
over the lofty bridge which spanned the valley of the 
Tyropceon, in presence of all the city, with the bound 
hands of a sentenced criminal, a spectacle to angels and 
to men." 

The hall of judgment or pretorium ' ' was the head- 
quarters of the Roman military governor, wherever he 
happened to be." " One of the ground apartments of 
Herod's palace on Mount Zion appears to have been the 
procurator's pretorium mentioned here, as Josephus in- 
forms us that the Roman governors took up their quar- 
ters in the palace, and set up their tribunal in front, that 
is, at the eastern entrance of it, namely, on the ' pave- 
ment.' " It was into this hall that some of the at- 
tendants led Jesus and into which the chief men of the 
Jews refused to enter, "that they might not be defiled, 
but might eat the Passover. ' ' 

The Jews held that going into the house of a Gentile 



484 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

made a Jew unclean for one day. Jesus had tried to cor- 
rect these false notions of outward defilement. But 
"notice how sanctimoniousness and crime consort to- 
gether in the same bosoms — the spirit of murder firing 
their hearts, yet afraid to defile their hallowed garments 
or soil their holy feet by going into Pilate's judgment 
hall." 

Pilate condescends to their false scruples and goes out, 
after viewing the accused, to his accusers. There are 
many contrasts in this trial. Their proceedings had been 
private, but Roman law required publicity ; they had 
sought to convict him upon his own extorted confessions, 
but the procurator must have definite accusations ; they 
were deadly foes, seeking the destruction of Jesus, but 
Pilate hated them and took a friendly interest in the case. 
Pilate was not unacquainted with the life and work of 
Jesus. His spies had kept him informed about all his 
movements, and he knew that he had nothing to fear 
from him. u He knew that for envy they had delivered 
him." However, the first question Pilate put to the Jews 
when he went out to them seemed to startle them : 
u What accusation bring ye against this man?" An- 
gered at Pilate's refusal to proceed upon such a vague 
charge, they answered, " If he were not a malefactor, we 
would not have delivered him up to thee." Pilate re- 
plied to them, " Take him, and judge him according to 
your law. ' ' 

But they had determined upon his death, and they 
had no authority to put any one to death. Besides, 
they wanted him to be crucified, which was not the 
Jewish mode of execution ; hence they answered Pilate : 
u It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." They 
wanted Pilate, without a judicial investigation, to put 



BROUGHT BEFORE PILA TE. 485 

Jesus to death ; this they eventually obtained. It was 
written, and Jesus had declared by what death he should 
die, and now these blinded Jews, with wicked hearts and 
hands, are unintentionally fulfilling the divine decrees, 
and proving by this very act that Jesus is the Messiah. 

Knowing well that Pilate would not listen to any charge 
relating to their religious matters, they bring an accusa- 
tion of a political character: "We found this fellow per- 
verting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to 
Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a King." This 
was false, for Jesus had expressly said, when they sought 
to entrap him, ' ' Render unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's," and, though he did claim to be "Christ, a 
King," yet never in opposition to Caesar. These are 
charges that Pilate must hear, so he re-enters the judg- 
ment hall and questions Jesus : ' ' Art thou the king of 
the Jews?" Jesus asked him whether he asked the 
question of his own account, or whether the Jews told 
him to ask it. Pilate indignantly replied: "Am I a 
Jew ? ' ' What should he know about these Jewish 
questions — of course they told him. 

To Jesus Pilate says : " Thine own nation and the chief 
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou 
done ? ' ' What a strange question : ' ' What hast thou 
done ? ' ' Nothing but deeds of divine power and mercy we 
may answer ; but Pilate meant, What have you done to 
incur the hatred of your people ? What have you done 
against the laws, or against the Roman emperor ? Jesus 
replied : " My kingdom is not of this world," — it is not a 
worldly and temporal government. "If my kingdom 
were of this world, then would my servants fight that I 
might not be delivered to the Jews ; " but now, since 
they do not appeal to arms, ' ' Is my kingdom not from 



486 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

hence" — it comes from above. " Pilate asked, "Art 
thou a king then ? " Jesus replied, " Thou sayest that I 
am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause 
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto 
the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my 
voice. ' ' Pilate asked, ' ' What is truth ? ' ' And without 
waiting for an answer went to the Jews and said, " I find 
no fault in him." 

" In Judea Pilate had acted with all the haughty vio- 
lence and insolent cruelty of a typical Roman governor." 
He had given the Jews just reason for popular indigna- 
tion, and his imperial master, Caesar, real cause for dis- 
pleasure and apprehension. He allowed his soldiers to 
carry by night the silver eagles and other Roman in- 
signia into the holy city, which the Jews regarded as an 
idolatrous profanation ; and when they supplicated him 
at Caesarea he had sullenly yielded to their wishes. He 
built an aqueduct by which water could be brought to 
Jerusalem from the pools of Solomon, so arousing again 
the Jews to insurrection because he paid for it out of the 
sacred treasury of the temple ; and when the Jews came 
to remonstrate with him he sent soldiers among them 
disguised 'as citizens, armed with daggers, who, when the 
people refused to disperse, stabbed many of the leading 
Jews — innocent and guilty — to death, while many were 
trodden to death by the panic-stricken multitude. Then 
again the Jews complained to the emperor that Pilate 
had erected in his Herodian palace gilded shields offen- 
sive to their religious sentiments. Tiberius, whose policy 
it was to keep on good terms with the people of his vari- 
ous provinces, reprimanded Pilate, and ordered him to 
remove the shields. All these things only created the 
greatest mutual disgust and hate between the Roman 
governor and the Jews, over whom he was placed as ruler. 
Yet these Jews now cringe before him to destroy Jesus. 



SENT TO HEROD. 487 



CHAPTER XCIII. 

SENT TO HEROD. 

I/UKE xxiii. 6-12.— Jerusalem. 

\ ~X THEN Pilate thus expressed his opinion respect- 
^ ^ ing Jesus in the emphatic statement, ( ' I find 
in him no fault at all," and thus indicated 
his desire to pronounce his acquittal ; the chief priests 
and elders, fearing that their victim might escape, vehe- 
mently reiterated their accusations. Jesus must have 
been led to the entrance of the hall of justice, where he 
could hear his accusers, for we are told that u he an- 
swered nothing," and Pilate said, " Hearest thou not 
how many things they witness against thee ? answerest 
thou not?" But Jesus yet answered him nothing, u so 
that Pilate marveled." Again Pilate said to the chief 
priests and to the people, ' ' I find no fault in this man. ' ' 
But the Jews "were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth 
up the people, teaching throughout all the land of the 
Jews, beginning from Galilee to this place." When 
Pilate's ear caught the word Galilee he thought at once 
how he might avoid all further responsibility and trouble 
and let another decide for him. So he asked whether 
' ' the man ' ' was a Galilean, and when he was told that 
he belonged to the jurisdiction of Herod, he determined 
that by Herod he should be tried. Therefore he sent 
him to Herod, who was at that time at Jerusalem attend- 
ing the feast. So through the thronged and narrow 
streets, amid the multitudes, the weary sufferer was 
dragged once more. This was Herod Antipas, who had 



488 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

beheaded John the Baptist, and who would not scruple 
to slay Jesus. 

"We have caught glimpses of this Herod Antipas before," 
says Farrar, "and I do not know that all history, in its gallery 
of portraits, contains a much more despicable figure than this 
wretched, dissolute Idumean Sadducee — this petty princeling 
drowned in debauchery and blood. To him was addressed the 
sole purely contemptuous expression that Jesus is ever recorded 
to have used (Luke xiii. 32). Superstition and incredulity usu- 
ally go together ; avowed atheists have yet believed in augury, 
and men who do not believe in God will believe in ghosts. An- 
tipas was rejoiced beyond all things to see Jesus. He had long 
been wanting to see him because of the rumors he had heard ; 
and this murderer of the prophet hoped that Jesus would, in 
compliment to royalty, amuse by some miracle his gaping curi- 
osity. He harangued and questioned him in many words, but 
gained not so much as one syllable in reply. Our Lord con- 
fronted all his ribald questions with the majesty of silence. 
Then all the savage vulgarity of the man came out through his 
veneer of a superficial cultivation." 

Herod's gladness at seeing Jesus soon gave way to 
anger and revenge for his seeming contemptuous silence. 
Here, too, before Herod were the accusing Jews. The 
chief priests and the scribes vehemently accused him. 
They would have the tyrant put to death his Galilean 
subject, but Herod contents himself with insulting inno- 
cence and weakness. Herod and his soldiers arrayed 
him in a gorgeous robe and mocked him and set him at 
naught. Herod then sent him back to Pilate, implying 
by so doing, "Neither do I find any fault with him." 
Herod and Pilate had been at enmity, but owing to this 
seeming act of friendly recognition of Herod, they were 
reconciled, and became friends, clasping hands over the 
rejection of the Son of God, which has covered their 
names with infamy. 






BEFORE PILATE AGAIN. 489 



CHAPTER XCIV. 

BEFORE PILATE AGAIN. 

Matt, xxvii. 15-26 ; Mark xv. 6-15 ; Luke xxiii. 13-25 ; John xviii. 39-40.— 
Jerusalem. 

^ I ^HE trial is renewed in the presence of Pilate. The 
-*- Jewish rulers are persistent in their murderous 
design. This time "the people" are with the 
rulers, such at least of the multitude as the hierarchy 
could influence to join them in seeking the death of 
Jesus. The disciples of the Lord, timid and fearful, 
have fled and concealed themselves, in this dreadful 
moment of their Master's sufferings. 

Calling the prosecuting Jews together before him and 
seating himself upon the judgment seat, Pilate again 
endeavors to secure his release. He tells them that they 
had brought Jesus to him as one who perverted the peo- 
ple from their allegiance, and as one guilty of some great 
crime. That he had examined him and found no fault 
in him touching the things they accused him of ; that he 
had sent him to Herod, who also found him guiltless ; 
and that Jesus evidently had done nothing worthy of 
death. Pilate, with the evident intention of pacifying 
the accusing Jews and yet saving Jesus, now proposed 
first to chastise and then to release him. But the Jews 
were not content with this; nothing but his blood would 
satisfy them. 

It was customary, during the Passover, for the Ro- 
mans to punish Jewish criminals, because the example 
would have its effect upon the people then assembled at 



490 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

Jerusalem. But it was usual also to grant to the Jews 
trie life of one of the condemned to be named by them. 
Pilate now bethought himself of this custom, as it 
seemed to offer him another opportunity of saving Jesus. 
There was a notable prisoner named Barabbas, who was 
guilty of sedition and murder, and who was in prison 
along with others guilty of the same crimes. Pilate 
knew that the chief priests had delivered Jesus to him 
on account of envy, and hence when they demanded the 
release of Barabbas he offered to release Jesus. ' ' Whom 
will you that I release unto you ? Barabbas or Jesus, who 
is called the Christ ? Will ye that I release unto you 
the King of the Jews?" At this stage of the proceed- 
ings Pilate was interrupted by a messenger from his wife 
who sent to him, saying, ' ' Have thou nothing to do 
with that just man ; for I have suffered many things, 
this day in a dream, because of him." Her name was 
Claudia Procula ; and her message and dream must have 
troubled Pilate and made him more anxious to save 
Jesus. While Pilate is hearing and pondering the mes- 
sage from his cautious wife, the crafty chief priests and 
the elders circulate among the people and persuade them 
to demand the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of 
Jesus. So when Pilate, willing to release Jesus, said 
unto them again, " Whether of the twain will ye that I 
release unto you?" they said, Barabbas. When he 
asked, What' then shall I do with Jesus, whom ye call the 
King of the Jews ? they cried out with wild excitement, 
saying, "Crucify him! crucify him!" Pilate said to 
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I 
have found no cause of death in him; I will therefore 
chastise him and let him go." But they cried out the 
more, with loud voices and incessantly, " Let him be 
crucified." 



BEFORE PI LA TE AGAIN. 491 

u It was fitting that they who had preferred an abject 
Sadducee to their true priest, and an incestuous Idu- 
mean to their Lord and King, should deliberately prefer 
a murderer to their Messiah." As to Pilate, it was his 
duty, inasmuch as he pronounced Jesus absolutely inno- 
cent, to set him absolutely free. "But Pilate is a 
type of the politician of all ages, who forgets that only 
the right is the strong or wise." So he, in his weak- 
ness, yields, and allows the clamor of the mob and the 
murderous demands of the priests and rulers to prevail 
with him to condemn to death one whom he knows to 
be innocent, and whose quiet dignity and patience had 
already prepossessed him in his favor. He is convinced 
of the injustice of the whole proceedings, but he fears to 
displease the Jewish leaders. However, his conscience is 
aroused within him, and if he can only quiet that by 
shifting the responsibility from himself to the Jews he 
will do so. He calls for a basin and water, and, before 
all the people, washes his hands, saying, ' ' I am inno- 
cent of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it." 
Then all the people answered Pilate, and said, " His 
blood be on us and on our children. ' ' It was vain for 
Pilate, with a little water, to try to wash away the guilt 
or to free himself from the responsibility of condemning 
to death the innocent Saviour. It shocks us to hear 
these Jews madly taking upon themselves and their 
children the fearful guilt of causing the death of their 
own Messiah, the Lord of glory. Pilate, in order to 
pacify the people, released Barabbas. 

11 And now mark, for a moment, the revenges of histo^. Has 
not his blood been on the-m, and on their children ? Has it not 
fallen, most of all, upon those most nearly concerned in that 
dark tragedy ? Before the dread sacrifice was consumed, Judas 



492 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

died in the horrors of a loathsome suicide. Caiaphas was de- 
posed the year following. Herod died in infamy and exile. 
Stripped of his procuratorship very shortly afterwards, on the 
very charges he had tried, by a wicked concession, to avoid, Pi- 
late, wearied out with misfortunes, died a suicide in banishment, 
leaving behind him an execrated name. The house of Annas 
was destroyed a generation later by an infuriated mob, and his 
son was dragged through the streets, and scourged and beaten, 
to his place of murder. Some of those who shared in and wit- 
nessed the scenes of that day, and thousands of their children, 
also witnessed and shared in the horrors of that siege of Jerusa- 
lem, which stands imparalleled in history for its unutterable 
fearfulness. They had shouted, We have no king but Caesar ! 
Caesar after Caesar outraged and tyrannized and pillaged and 
oppressed them ; till at last they rose in wild revolt against the 
Caesar whom they had claimed, and slacked in the blood of its 
best defenders the red ashes of their burned and desecrated tem- 
ple. They had forced the Romans to crucify their Christ, and they 
regarded this punishment with especial horror, and they and their 
children were themselves crucified in myriads by the Romans 
outside their city walls, till room was wanting and wood failed, 
and the soldiers had to ransack a fertile inventiveness of cruelty 
for fresh methods of inflicting this insulting form of death. 
They had given thirty pieces of silver for their Saviour's blood, 
and they were themselves sold by thousands for yet smaller 
sums. They had chosen Barabbas in preference to their Messiah, 
and for them there has been no other Messiah, while a murderer's 
dagger swayed the last counsels of their dying nationality. 
They had accepted the guilt of blood, and the last pages of their 
history were glued together with the rivers of their blood, and 
that blood has continued to be shed in wanton cruelties from age 
to age. They who will, may see in incidents like these the mere 
unmeaning chances of history ; but there is in history nothing 
unmeaning to one who regards it as the voice of God speaking 
among the destinies of men ; whether a man sees any signifi- 
cance or not in events like these, he must be blind who does not 
see that the axe was laid at the root of the tree of Jewish 
nationality.' - ' 



THE SCOURGING. 493 



CHAPTER XCV. 

THE SCOURGING. 

Matt, xxvii. 26-30 ; Mark xv. 15-19 ; L/uke xxiii. 25 ; John xix. 1-16.— Jerusalem. 

A I ^HE language of the scripture descriptive of the 
-*- inhuman treatment to which Jesus was next 
subjected by order of Pilate in the prsetorium, 
awakens our deepest feelings of abhorrence. "Then 
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common 
hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers ; 
and they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe ; 
and when they platted a crown of thorns, they put it 
upon his head and a reed in his hand ; and they bowed 
the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, 
king of the Jews ! and they spit upon him, and took the 
reed and smote him on the head." 

When this cruel mockery was over, Pilate went out to 
the people again and said, " Behold, I bring him forth to 
you that ye may know that I find no fault in him ; ' ' and 
when Jesus was led forth wearing the crown of thorns 
and the purple robe, Pilate exclaimed, "Behold the 
man ! " " But when they saw him the chief priests and 
officers cried out, Crucify him ! crucify him ! ' ' Pilate 
replied, "Take ye him, and crucify him ; for I find no' 
fault in him." Then the Jews, knowing that they could 
not crucify him, and determined to force Pilate to do it, 
answered, ' ' We have a law, and by our law he ought to 
die, because he made himself the Son of God." 

When Pilate heard that he was the Son of God, he was 
more afraid than ever to execute Jesus, so he went again 



494 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

into the judgment hall and said to him, in a troubled 
way, u Whence art thou ? " But Jesus gave him no an- 
swer. Then, wondering at his silence, Pilate said, 
" Speakest thou not unto me? K no west thou not that 
I have power to crucify thee or power to release thee ? " 
Jesus answers : ' ' Thou couldst have no power at all 
against me, except it be given thee from above ; there- 
fore he that delivered me to thee has the greater sin." 
Again Pilate is favorably impressed, and seeks to release 
him. He had already released Barabbas, but he is willing 
to set Jesus also at liberty, so he tries to obtain the con- 
sent of the Jews. But they cried out in language that 
more than all else intimidated Pilate and filled him with 
fears, not only of Jewish wrath, but of Caesar's imperial 
displeasure. "If thou let this mango, thou art not 
Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king, 
speaketh against Caesar. ' ' When Pilate heard this he 
brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat, in 
a palace called the pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 
Pilate then said to the Jews, " Behold your king." But 
they cried out, " Away with him ! away with him ! cru- 
cify him ! " "What," replied Pilate, " shall I crucify 
your king?" The chief priests answered, " We have 
no king but Caesar. ' ' Then, after all his fruitless efforts 
to induce the people to do what he could have com- 
manded them to do, Pilate at last cowardly yielded to 
them, and delivered Jesus to his soldiers, first to be 
scourged, and then crucified. 

"In civilized nations all is done that can be done to spare 
every needless suffering to a man condemned to death, but 
among the Romans insult and derision were the customary pre- 
liminaries to the last agony. Such a custom furnished a speci- 
men of that worst and lowest form of human wickedness which 
delights to inflict pain— which feels an inhuman pleasure in 



THE SCOURGING. 495 

gloating over the agonies of another — even when he has done no 
wrong. The mere spectacle of agony is agreeable to the degraded 
soul. The low, vile soldiery of the praetorium — not Romans, who 
might have had more sense of the inborn dignity of the silent 
sufferer, but mostly the mercenary scum and dregs of the prov- 
inces — led him into their barrack-room and there mocked, in their 
savage hatred, the king whom they had tortured. It added keen- 
ness to their enjoyment to have in their power one who was of 
Jewish birth, of innocent life, of noblest bearing." 

Geikie thus describes the cruel scene : 

"Jesus was now seized by some of the soldiers standing near, 
and, after being stripped to the waist, was bound in a stooping 
pcsture, his hands behind his back, to a post, or low pillar near 
the tribunal. He was then beaten, till the soldiers chose to stop, 
with knots of rope, or plaited leather thongs, armed at the ends 
with acorn-shaped drops of lead or small, sharp-pointed bones. 
In many cases not only was the back of the person scourged, cut 
open in all directions ; but even thee3 r es, the face and the breast 
were torn and cut, and the teeth not seldom knocked out. Under 
the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes sank, 
amidst screams, convulsive leaps and distortions, into a senseless 
heap —sometimes were taken away an unrecognizable mass of 
bleeding flesh, to find deliverance in death from inflammation 
and fever, sickness and shame. 

" This long passage of insult and mockery was one of the sorest 
trials of these last sad hours. Yet through the whole no com- 
plaint escaped his lips. He was being insulted, maltreated and 
mocked as a Jew, while already agonized by the scourging. But 
if his tormentors had known it, it was because the Jews hated 
him that he stood where he did. They ridiculed his claim to the 
monarchy of the world ; but had these soldiers known the truth, 
it was because he had opposed the Jewish dream of such a mon- 
archy that he was being put to death. . . . N© murmur rose from 
him. He might have spoken, or sighed, or implored the pity of 
the soldiers — he might have appealed to their honor and compas- 
sion. A heart beats even in the roughest bosom. But he was 
silent — silent, not because the waves of his sorrow had over- 
whelmed him, but in triumphant superiority to them. He had 
been bowed and crushed in Gethsemane, but now he showed the 
serene joy of the conqueror." 



496 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER XCVI. 

JOURNEY TO THE CROSS. 

Matt, xxvii. 31-34 ; Mark xv. 20-23 ; I,uke xxiii. 26-33 5 John xix. 16, 17. — 
Jerusalem. 

IT was by the command of Pilate that Jesus was 
scourged, and so it was by his order that he was 
crucified. Several incidents occurred on the way 
from Pilate's judgment hall to the place of crucifix- 
ion. Those related by the evangelists we may dwell 
upon. But the course the procession took to Calvary 
or the Via Dolorosa, has not been revealed, and hence 
is only conjectured. 

It seems that the needless fear of rescue occupied the 
minds of both Jews and Romans, either by his peaceful 
followers or by the people who at least thought him a 
prophet; hence the procession of soldiers that escorted 
him to the cross and stood by until the end. It was 
probably about nine in the morning when the march to 
the place of execution, outside of the city, began. Be- 
sides the Roman soldiers and their captains or centurions, 
a vast multitude of people, and among them many women, 
followed him. Before him went the herald, proclaiming 
the crimes with which he was charged, and by the sol- 
diers was borne the superscription containing his title, to 
be placed on his cross. Along with the innocent suf- 
ferer went the two condemned malefactors, — each bear- 
ing his own cross. But, exhausted by fatigue and suf- 
fering from loss of sleep, the prolonged examination and 
shameful scourging, Jesus sank beneath the weight of 
the cross he was bearing, too weak to carry it. This, 



JOURNEY TO THE CROSS. 



497 



however, caused but little delay, for they seized upon a 
man from North Africa, known to the early Christians 
as ' ' Simon of Cy rene, the father of Alexander and 
Rufus, ' ' who was approaching the city from the country, 
and upon him they put the cross, which he was com- 
pelled to carry to the place of execution. 




JESUS SINKS BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF HIS CROSS. 

The women who followed the procession to the place 
of crucifixion could not conceal their grief and sym- 
pathy, but beat their breasts and filled the air with their 
loud lamentations. They alone dared to express that 
sympathy which doubtless many of the vast multitude 
felt for the patient sufferer. Forgetting his own sorrows 
Jesus turned to them and breaking his long silence, ten- 



498 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

derly said, ' ' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, 
but weep for yourselves and for your children. For be- 
hold the days are coming, in the which they shall say, 
blessed are the barren. . . . Then shall they begin to 
say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover 
us ; for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall 
be done in the dry ? ' ' Even in the last agonizing hours the 
Saviour has not only a word of comfort, but one of warn- 
ing — "his last sermon on earth." He speaks in parable. 

' 4 The fig tree of their national life was still green ; if such 
deeds of darkness were possible now, what should be done when 
that tree was withered and blasted and ready for burning ? If in 
the days of hope and decency they could execute their blameless 
deliverer, what would happen on the day of blasphemy and mad- 
ness and despair ? If under the full light of day, priest and 
scribe could crucify the innocent, what would be done in the mid- 
night orgies and blood-stained bacchanalia of zealots and mur- 
derers ? . . . These words warn every child of man that the day 
of careless pleasure and blasphemous disbelief will be followed 
by the crack of doom." 

Where this place of a u skull, ' ' called in the Hebrew, 
Golgotha, and in the Latin, Calvary, was, except that it 
was outside of the walls of the city, we know not. It 
has been thought that its name came from its shape — re- 
sembling that of a skull, and it is probably from this 
that we get the idea that Jesus was crucified on a 
' ' mount ' ' or hill. There is nothing said to indicate 
that Calvary was a mount, and yet how likely it is that 
the usual place of execution would be an elevation of 
sufficient prominence to command an extensive view, 
and where could be seen from the walls and the tops of 
the houses of the city the tragedy of the cross. Cal- 
vary, we know too, was in or near by the garden of Joseph 
of Arimathea, where the tomb was in which the body of 
Jesus reposed over the Sabbath. 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 499 



CHAPTER XCVII. 

THE CRUCIFIXION. 

Matt, xxvii. 35-56 ; Mark xv. 24-41 ; Luke xxii. 33-49 ; John xix. 18 30.— Calvary, 
outside of the gates of Jerusalem. 

/CRUCIFIXION, or the fastening of one to the cross 
^-^ till released by death, was not a Roman mode of 
punishment, but had its origin in the east, and ex- 
ceeded in cruelty and suffering many other methods of ex- 
ecution. It was adopted by the Romans, who crucified 
many thousands. The cross was composed of two pieces 
of wood, one of which was upright and the other at- 
tached to it near the top horizontally. The cross was 
laid upon the ground and the victim stretched upon 
and fastened to it, with nails driven through his out- 
stretched hands, and through his feet placed one upon 
the other. A projection about midway served as a kind 
of seat to prevent the weight of the body tearing the 
hands. But this only added to the pain. When the 
victim was secured to the cross, it was then raised to an 
upright position and rudely dropped into a hole in the 
ground and there secured. Thus it was planted like a 
tree. The feet of the victim were usually about two 
feet from the ground. In this position the poor sufferer 
was allowed to remain sometimes for days, in intense 
suffering till death came to his release. 

Death by the cross was deemed a most ignominious 
and disgraceful punishment, suitable only for the worst 
criminals. It was thus that Jesus was crucified. It was 
on this instrument of cruelty and death that the Saviour 



5oo 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



made atonement for trie sins of the world. They offered 
him drink of wine or vinegar with an infusion of some 
bitter substance, like myrrh or gall, in order probably to 
stupefy the senses and relieve the pain, but he refused 
to be thus made insensible to the pains of the cross. 
He had come to endure, and preferred to drink to its 
dregs the cup that the Father gave him. Afterward, 
towards the end of his sufferings on the cross, when he 

thirsted and they gave him 
vinegar without myrrh, he 
drank it. 

Jesus did not suffer cruci- 
fixion alone. Two robbers 
were crucified with him, — 
one on either side. It is 
probable that he occupied 
the highest as well as the 
central cross, which would 
have held the chief robber, 
Barabbas, had he not been 
released at the demand of 
the people. Thus the 
prophecy of Isaiah, that he should be numbered with 
the trangressors, was fulfilled. The four Roman sol- 
diers who came to execute the command of Pilate to 
crucify Jesus, sat down, indifferent to his suffering, 
at the foot of the cross, where they watched him 
and divided his garments among them, a piece to 
each soldier. His cloak or under-garment was without 
seam, woven from top to bottom. For this they cast 
lots. Thus again did they unconsciously fulfill the scrip- 
ture, the words of the Psalmist, ' ' They parted my rai- 
ment among them and for my vesture they cast lots. ' ' 




the: crucifixion. 






THE CRUCIFIXION. 50 1 

It was customary to fasten to the top of the cross or 
above the head of the victim a board, on which was 
plainly written his name and the cause of his execution. 
So Pilate wrote this title and accusation, " This is 
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." This 
was written with slight variations in the three languages 
known to the people — Hebrew, Greek and Latin — so 
that all could read it. 

Then the chief priests, seeing that Pilate's inscription 
put the Jews in an unenviable light and reflected upon 
them, went to him in haste and said, "Write not, The 
King of the Jews, but that, He said, I am the King of 
the Jews." But Pilate was now firm, and probably 
smarting under a sense of humiliation in having allowed 
himself to condemn an innocent man, he rudely dis- 
missed them with the contemptuous reply, "What I 
have written I have written." Thus Pilate uninten- 
tionally emphasized and confirmed the truth of history 
and of prophecy. 

It is probable that many of the people were filled with 
awe and horror, and stood, sad and silent, beholding 
the cruel suffering of one who had endeared himself to 
them by many acts of love and mercy. But those who 
conspired to put him to death were noisy and insulting, 
mockingly exclaiming, ' ' Ah ! thou that destroyest the 
temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself; " and 
' ' If thou be the Son of God, come down from the 
cross." The chief priests, scribes and elders, the lead- 
ers and teachers of the Jews, joined in the insults and 
jeers of the people, saying, "He saved others, himself 
he cannot save. Let God, whose Son he claimed to be, 
deliver him." The soldiers also mocked him, giving 
him vinegar to drink, and saying, " If thou be the King 



5 02 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

of the Jews, save thyself. ' ' Even the malefactors cru- 
cified with him also joined in the general insult and 
derision and railed on him. One of the thieves said, 
1 ' If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. ' ' But he 
could not save himself, or rather he would not, for he 
came to die to save man from death eternal. 

In the midst of all this false accusation and bitter de- 
nunciation there was but one voice lifted in the suffering 
Saviour's behalf. One of the malefactors, conscience- 
stricken, rebuked his fellow-robber, confessed their com- 
panionship in guilt, and then uttered the prayer, ' ' Lord, 
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." 
Jesus, who had remained silent during the storm of 
abuse, now opened his mouth with words of precious 
promise to the penitent thief, ' ' To-day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise. ' ' That is, before the going down 
of the sun, both saved and Saviour would be at home in 
the paradise of God. 

There were standing by the cross some of the noble 
women who had befriended Jesus — Mary, the wife of 
Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene, and with them Mary, 
the mother of Jesus. John, the beloved disciple, also 
stood near. Remembering his mother while in agony 
he hung upon the cross, bearing our sins, Jesus gave her 
to John to care for her, as a son for his own mother. 
He who had left all, even the heavenly riches, and be- 
came poor for us, had nothing of earthly wealth to leave 
to her who bore him in the flesh. 

But now God strikes terror into the hearts of the ac- 
tors and spectators of this terrible tragedy by sending an 
earthquake and withdrawing the light of the sun. For 
three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, or from noon 
till three o'clock, darkness came over the whole land, 



i 




THE VAII, OF THF, TF,MPI,F, KENT. 



(503) 



504 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

shrouding the dreadful scene in solemn awe. Towards 
the close of this period of night at noonday the Sav- 
iour's lips, after a silence of three hours, were unsealed 
again. During all this time he suffered without one 
word of complaint. But now he cried with a loud voice, 
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? " which means, being 
interpreted, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me?" None can know the soul-anguish of that hour, 
when, forsaken of God, Jesus bore alone the penalty of 
man's sins, that man might not be forsaken of God and 
eternally lost. When those at the cross heard this 
cry some of them thought that he was calling Elias. 

The end was now near, and Jesus uttered the only 
word indicative of physical suffering that escaped his 
lips, "I thirst." One of those who stood near ran and 
took a sponge and, dipping it into a vessel of vinegar 
and putting it on a reed, that he might reach up to the 
sufferer, touched it to his lips. But some would have de- 
nied him even this poor relief, and said, Let him alone ; 
let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. 
None but a Jew would have said this, for it was accord- 
ing to their prophets that Elijah was to come when the 
Messiah appeared. 

But death was at hand, and Jesus, when he had re- 
ceived the vinegar, being conscious that the time was 
near, said, "It is finished." His life, his work, his 
atonement, man's redemption, all was completed. When 
he had cried again with a loud voice, he said, "Father, 
into thy hand I commend my spirit," and, bowing his 
head, he gave up the spirit, or surrendered his life into 
the keeping of the heavenly Father. 



THE BURIAL. 



505 



CHAPTER XCVIII. 

THE BURIAI,. 

Matt, xxvii. 57-66 ; Mark xv. 42-47 ; Lt'KE xxiii 50-56 ; John xix. 31-42.— A garden 
near Calvary, outside of the walls of Jerusalem. 

~\ ~X THEN Christ expired, the vail of the temple, a 
^ ^ richly ornamented curtain that separated the 
holy from the most holy place, dividing the 
temple in two parts, was rent in twain, or torn from the 
top to the bottom. It was the time of the evening 
prayer, when the priest stood by the altar near the cur- 
tain in the holy place burning incense. Only the high 
priest was allowed to go behind that vail and enter the 
holy of holies, and he only once a year after offering 
sacrifice for the sins of the people. But now the sacred 
vail is mysteriously divided into two parts and the holy 
of holies is exposed to view. This rending of the vail 
indicated that when Christ had offered up himself on the 
cross, he entered into heaven, of which the holy of 
holies was a type, and as our great high priest is now 
interceding before God for us, and we are permitted to 
follow him to the mercy-seat through the rent vail of his 
humanity. 

The earthquake and the darkness may doubtless be 
regarded as an expression of God's displeasure toward 
sin. The darkness, which extended to other lands, was 
an impressive symbol of the soul- darkness which the 
Saviour felt when forsaken by the Father. The rocks 
were also rent, and the rocky coverings or doors of the 
tombs were torn away, and the graves were opened and 

22 



506 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

many bodies of holy people that slept in them arose, 
after the resurrection of Christ, and came forth and ap- 
peared to many of their friends in Jerusalem. 

The death of Christ, the darkness and earthquake and 
all the wonderful circumstances attending the crucifixion, 
made a profound impression upon the intelligent centu- 
rion or Roman captain, and also upon the soldiers who 
were with him. The centurion feared greatly and glori- 
fied God, exclaiming, "Certainly this was a righteous 
man, this was the Son of God." 

The people also who came to witness the cruel specta- 
cle, ' ' smote their breasts and returned ' ' to their homes 
deeply impressed by what they had seen and heard. 

In his last hours Jesus was not left utterly alone by 
his followers, for ' ' all his acquaintance and the women 
that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding 
these things. Among them was Mary Magdalene and 
Mary, the mother of James the L,ess and Joses, and 
Salome." 

The day of the crucifixion was the preparation for the 
Sabbath-day, which was observed by the Jews during the 
Passover as a high day, and began at sundown on Fri- 
day. "They who had not thought it pollution to 
inaugurate their feast by the murder of their Messiah, 
were seriously alarmed lest the sanctity of the following 
day should be compromised by the hanging of the corpse 
on the cross." These merciless Jews, therefore, begged 
Pilate that their limbs might be broken to hasten their 
death. Their wish was complied with this far, that the 
legs of the two malefactors were broken by a blow from 
a mallet in the hands of a soldier. When they came to 
Jesus they saw that he was already dead, and hence they 
did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his 




THE BODY TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 



508 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

side with a spear, and water and blood flowed from the 
wound. Thus again was fulfilled the scriptures which, 
speaking of the paschal lamb as a type of Christ, said, 
"A bone of him shall not be broken," and Zechariah's 
prophecy, " They shall look on him whom they pierced. " 

The bodies of the two malefactors were hurried away 
to their unknown graves, but the body of Jesus still 
remained, for influential friends were claiming it of Pilate. 
Joseph of Arimathea, "an honorable counsellor" and 
1 ' a good man and just, ' ' who had not consented to the 
death of Jesus and who for fear of the Jews was secretly 
a disciple of the L,ord, now went boldly to the Roman 
governor and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate mar- 
veled that Jesus was so soon dead, and sending for 
the centurion, who had been present at the crucifixion, 
he satisfied himself that Jesus was dead, and then com- 
manded that the body should be delivered to Joseph, who 
brought fine clean linen cloth in which to wrap the body. 

There was another prominent but secret disciple 
who came with Joseph to pay this last tribute to the be- 
loved dead. This was Nicodemus, who in the beginning 
of Christ's ministry came to him by night. He now put 
aside fear and brought with him a hundred pounds of "a 
mixture of myrrh and aloes ' - with which to embalm the 
body. These two noble men took down the body of Jesus 
and wrapped it in linen clothes with spices, according to 
Jewish custom. u Nov/ in or near the place where he 
was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was 
a sepulchre, wherein never man yet laid." This was 
Joseph's own new tomb, which he had caused to be hewn 
out of the rock for himself. In this they reverently laid 
the sacred body, closed up the entrance by rolling before 
it a great stone and departed. 



THE BURIAL. 509 

But these two were not the only ones who were wit- 
nesses of the burial of the Lord. The women also who 
came with him from Galilee followed after and saw 
where he was laid in the sepulcher. They" then returned 
home and prepared spices and ointment with which to 
properly embalm the body; and rested according to the 
command of God on the Sabbath day. 

On the evening of the next day after the burial, the 
chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate and told him 
that they remembered how " that deceiver said, while he 
was yet alive, that after three days he would rise again. 
They therefore asked him to command that the sepulchre 
be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples 
might come by night and steal him away, and then say 
to the people, " He is risen from the dead," and so the 
last error be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, 
"You have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as 
you can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, 
sealing the stone and setting a watch." 

The death of Jesus was made sure by this testimony 
of both Jew and Gentile. Thus were the enemies of 
Jesus led unwittingly to furnish most unquestionable 
proof of the reality, both of his death and resurrection. 



BOOK NINTH. 



THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD FROM 

HIS RESURRECTION TO HIS 

ASCENSION. 

a period of forty days, from april 9th, a.d. 30, to 
May i 8th, a.d. 30. 

(511) 



D 



THE RESURRECTION. 513 



CHAPTER XCIX. 

THE RESURRECTION. 

Matt, xxviii. 1-8 ; Mark xvi. 1-9 ; Luke xxiv. i-8, 12 ; John xx. i-io. 
The first day of the week— Early morning. 

URING the two nights that Jesus laid in the tomb 



1 ' the Roman sentries paced to and fro on their beat 
before the sepulchre ; their fire lighted, for the 
spring night was chilly, and besides, the light prevented 
any one approaching. ' ' It was now the third day since 
the burial. Early in the morning, after the close of the 
Jewish Sabbath, the soldiers on guard at the tomb of 
Jesus were startled by an earthquake ; and they beheld a 
shining angel descend from heaven, u his countenance 
like lightning and his raiment white as snow." He 
rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre and 
seated himself upon it. The soldiers keeping watch fell 
down as dead men from fear, and revived only to flee in 
terror into the city. 

It was early on Sunday, or the first day of the week, at 
the rising of the sun, when the women — the two Marys, 
and Salome and Joanna — came to the sepulchre laden 
with the spices they had prepared for the L,ord's body. 
They had probably slept outside of the walls of the city, 
as the gates would not be open before sunrise. On their 
journey to the tomb they were troubled as to how to get 
into the sepulchre to perform their work of love, and said 
among themselves, ' ' Who shall roll us away the stone from 
the door of the sepulchre?" But when they reached 
the place they were surprised to find that the stone, which 
was " very great," had been removed. Mary Magdalene 

22* 



514 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

had entered the garden first, and seeing the empty tomb, 
had run back to the others, and then hastened into the 
city to tell Peter and John. The other women hastened 
to enter the tomb. The body of Jesus was not there. 

But they were startled to find two angels clothed in long 
white shining garments, before whom they fell to the 
earth. The angels said to the women, " Be not af- 
frighted ; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. 
Why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not 
here ; he is risen. Come, see the place where the I^ord 
lay." "Remember how he spake unto you when he 
was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be 
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, 
and the third day rise again. ' ' And they remembered 
his words. "Go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter 
that he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see 
him, as he said unto you. ' ' 

Mary Magdalene had hurried back to Jerusalem and 
told Peter and John what she had seen. It was doubt- 
less in the house of the latter, dwelling together 
with the mother of Jesus. The two apostles at once 
ran to the tomb ; but John outran Peter and got there 
first. Stooping down and looking into the open sepul- 
chre, John saw that the body was gone, and, the linen 
clothes were lying there, not in disorder, but neatly 
folded. Peter, coming up, passed John and entered the 
tomb first, "heedless of ceremonial pollution." And 
also saw the linen clothes lying on the floor of the vault, 
and the napkin that had been bound around his head, by 
itself. John at last followed Peter into the sepulchre 
and "saw and believed." Filled with wonder, they de- 
parted and returned to their own home. 



THE L ORD A PPEARS. 515 



CHAPTER C. 

THE LORD APPEARS. 

Matt, xxviii. 9-15; Mark xvi. 9-11; L,uke xxiv. 9-1 1 ; John xx. 11-18; 1 Cor. 
xv. 5.— In the Garden, near the Sepulchre. 

UP to this time none had seen the Lord. It is ex- 
pressly stated that u he appeared first to Mary 
Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven 
devils." She had gone and told Peter and John about 
the open and empty sepulchre and then returned follow- 
ing them back to the garden of burial. The empty 
sepulchre simply revealed the fact that he was not there. 
Mary now stood near the empty tomb weeping, and as 
she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre 
and saw two angels, one sitting at the head and the other 
at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. They 
asked her, " Woman, why weepest thou ? " She plain- 
tively replied, u Because they have taken away my Lord, 
and I know not where they have laid him." Upon this 
she turned sorrowfully away, when she met Jesus, but 
knew him not. He asked her, "Woman, why weepest 
thou? Whom seekest thou?" Supposing him to be 
the gardener or keeper of Joseph's garden, wherein was 
the sepulchre, and suspecting that he had something 
to do with the removal of the body, she beseechingly 
said, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus 
simply said, "Man-," and she knew him, and turning to 
him exclaimed, "Rabboni," which means "Master." 
In her joy at seeing him alive, she would have clasped 



516 THE STORY OF JESUS. 

him around the feet with her arms, but he said, ' l Touch 
me not: for I am not yet ascended to my Father." And 
now the Master himself gives her the same commission 
that the angels gave to the other women at the tomb: 
1 ' But go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto 
my Father and your Father, and to my God and your 
God." Ready to serve or to adore, she left at once her 
Lord and hastened again to the city. Coming to the dis- 
ciples "as they mourned and wept," she told them that 
she had seen the Lord. But her message seemed to 
them like an incredulous story and they "believed it 
not." 

The other women who had gone with Mary Magdalene 
to the sepulchre, returned trembling and amazed. While 
on the way bearing to the disciples the angels' message, 
Jesus also appeared to them and said : ' ' All hail ! ' ' And 
they came near and held him by the feet and worshiped 
him. "Be not afraid," he said to them assuringly; 
"Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and 
there shall they see me." They sought out the eleven 
snd " all the rest of the company of believers, and told 
them all that they had seen and heard." Thus the 
statement of Mary Magdalene, "I have seen the Lord," 
was confirmed. These women, last at the cross and first 
at the tomb, were honored by the Lord above all others 
in that he appeared first to them, and sent them to bear 
the first news of his resurrection to the apostles and to 
convey the first message of the risen Lord to his waiting 
chinch. But " their words seemed to them as idle tales, 
and they believed them not." 

Let us leave the apostles, for the moment, in perplex- 
ity and doubt, while we follow other messengers from 
the tomb of Jesus into the city. When the guard fled in 



THE LORD APPEARS- 517 

terror from the sepulchre in the early morning they came 
and truthfully told the chief priests all that had hap- 
pened: about the dreadful earthquake, the descent of the 
flaming angel, the rolling away of the great stone and 
the opening of the tomb. Then the chief priests called 
the elders, and they counseled together, and they gave 
large sums of money to the soldiers to say that his disci- 
ples came by night and stole him away, while they slept. 
Would the guard admit this even if true? If it had 
been the fact, death would have been the penalty paid by 
every soldier on duty. The}' were promised protection, 
if their false report should come to Pilate's ears. So 
they took the money and did as they were taught. 
Matthew says that when he wrote, this saying was 
commonly reported among the Jews, and for twelve cen- 
turies this falsehood was kept alive and circulated among 
the Jews. 

" It was only gradually and later and to the initiated 
that the base calumny was spread. Within six weeks of 
the resurrection that great event was the unshaken faith 
of every Christian ; within a few years of the event the 
palpable historic proofs of it and the numerous testimo- 
nies of its realities — strengthened by a memorable vision 
vouchsafed to himself— had won assent from the acute 
and noble intellect of a young Pharisaic zealot and per- 
secutor, whose name was Saul." 

More, when Peter and the other apostles proclaimed 
publicly the resurrection of Jesus, on the day of Pente- 
cost, there were thousands there at Jerusalem who be- 
lieved and put their trust in the risen Lord, while there 
were none to deny the fact that Christ had risen indeed. 
There is no fact in history that is more incontestable 
than the resurrection of Jesus. " Nothing," says Ewald, 



5 1 8 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

''stands more historically certain than that Jesus rose 
from the dead and appeared again to his followers or 
than that their seeing him thns again was the begin- 
ning of a higher faith, and of all their Christian work in 
the world. It is equally certain that they thus saw him, 
not as a common man or as a shade or ghost risen from 
the grave ; but as the only Son of God, — already more 
than man at once in nature and power, — and that all 
who thus beheld him recognized at once and instinct- 
ively his unique divine dignity, and firmly believed in 
it henceforth." When such an historical critic as Ewald 
emphatically asserts the fact of the resurrection of Christ, 
it is time for all negative criticism to cease. 

When the women received the message from the an- 
gels to be borne to the disciples, the name of one of 
them was specially mentioned, "Go tell his disciples 
and Peter. " How grateful must have been the fallen, 
but now deeply penitent, apostle to receive such a mes- 
sage! Who could have sent it but the compassionate 
and forgiving Lord himself? But this was not all. The 
Lord still further honors and comforts his weak, yet lov- 
ing follower, by appearing next to Peter, as Paul tells us 
in Corinthians ; not while he was with John at the sep- 
ulchre, but when he was alone. This was his third ap- 
pearance, but we have been furnished with none of the 
details. Peter doubtless kept the particulars of this in- 
terview to himself. The answer of Peter to Jesus after- 
wards at the sea of Galilee, " Lord, thou knowest that I 
love thee," may give us a hint of Peter's words of con- 
fession and love when for the first time after his denial 
he met his risen Lord. 



THE WALK TO EMMAUS. 



5 X 9 



CHAPTER CI. 

THE WALK TO EMMAUS. 

Mark xvi. 12-13; Luke xxiv. 13-35 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5.— Jerusalem, Emraaus, first day 

of the week. 

T T was now toward the evening of this first day of the 
-*- week, that on which the Lord arose, when Jesus 
showed himself to two of the disciples as they 
walked in the country going home to Emmaus, or the 
' ' warm baths, ' ' a village about three-score furlongs, 
between seven and eight miles, northwest from Jerusa- 
lem, " in the high slope of the hills." u The way to it 
was over the hills, and through valleys, more and more 
barren as Jerusalem was left behind. But Emmaus 
itself looked down into a hollow, through which a rivu- 
let spread greenness and beauty. Vines and olive trees 
planted in terraces up the hillside, and the white and 
red flowers of the almond tree, now bursting into blossom 
in the valley, made the end of the journey a pleasant 
contrast to its beginning." 

We may stop to inquire who these disciples were. 
One was Cleopas, not Clopas, the husband of one of the 
Marys. Who the other was is mere conjecture, but it 
may have been Luke, who relates the incident, but 
withholds his name, as John does his. While they jour- 
ney they naturally talk of the thoughts which occupy 
their minds. Recent events were of supreme moment 
to them. Their Lord, who they had hoped was the 
Messiah, had been crucified. Now all hope had fled and 



5 20 THE SI OR Y OF JESUS. 

they, dejected and sorrowful, were on their way home. 
They had heard how the women and Peter and John had 
found the sepulchre empty, and had seen angels who 
said that he had risen, but no one, to their knowledge, 
had seen the Lord. Hence they doubted and placed no 
reliance upon the rumors they had heard. 

While they thus reasoned about these things and won- 
dered whether Jesus was the Messiah or not, Jesus him- 
self drew near and went with them, but they did not 
know him. He inquired what the sad subject of their 
conversation was. Cleopas frankly answering said, 
"Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not 
known the things which are come to pass there in these 
days?" Jesus asked them, "What things?" desiring 
still to be unknown and to learn from their own lips 
their thoughts. Then they told him that Jesus of Naz- 
areth, ' ' a prophet mighty in deed and word before God 
and all the people," had been delivered by the chief 
priests and rulers to be condemned to death and had 
been crucified ; that they had trusted he was to be the 
deliverer of Israel ; but that it was now the third day 
since his crucifixion, and that " certain women " of their 
company who went early to the sepulchre, had aston- 
ished them by declaring that the sepulchre was opened, 
the body gone, and angels in attendance had said that 
he was alive ; that certain of the disciples also had gone 
to the sepulchre and found it so, as the women had 
reported ; but that none of them had seen the Lord. 

It seems from this account that these two had left the 
other disciples before the women reported that they had 
seen the Lord himself. Then Jesus said to them, "O 
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these 



THE WALK TO EMMAUS. 



521 



things and to enter into his glory ?" And he began at 
Moses and went through the prophets, expounding the 
scriptures and showing in them the things concerning 
himself. 

They now drew near to the end of their journey and 
to the village where they were going. Jesus was about 
to go on further, but they constrained him to go home 
with them, saying, "Abide with us: for it is toward 
evening, and the day is far spent." He accepted their 
invitation and went with them. As they were at the 
evening meal together, ' ' he took bread and blessed and 
brake and gave to them." Then their eyes were 
opened. Up to this time they knew him not. Now 
they recognized in the stranger their risen Lord. " But 
he vanished out of their sight," leaving them beholding 
one another with blank astonishment. Recovering some- 
what from their surprise, they said joyfully, "Did not 
our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the 
scriptures ?' ' 

In the language of the eloquent Dr. Richard Fuller : 

" They who had dissuaded the stranger from proceeding that 
night, now heed neither darkness nor danger. Their first pal- 
pitating rapture over, they leave the house and with eager 
haste retrace their steps, impatient to tell the good tidings 
to the apostles. What a contrast now between this journey 
and that of the afternoon! They leave the repast untouched, 
for the}- have bread to eat which others know not of. Hill 
and valley are shrouded in darkness, but within all is ra- 
diant with glory. Entering the city they inquire for the apos- 
tles : and being informed that they are assembled, they press to 
the place, and rushing in, find the eleven gathered together 
and them that were with them, saying, ' The Lord is risen in- 
deed, and hath appeared to Simon.' " 



522 1HE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER CII. 

JKSUS IN THE MIDST. 

Mark xvi. 14 ; I^uke xxiv. 36-49 ; John xx. 19-29 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5 — Jerusalem, evening 

following the first day of the week, and evening following the first day 

of the next week. 

r T was on the evening of the day of the resurrection 
-**- that the Lord first appeared to the twelve, now re- 
duced to "eleven" by the apostasy of Judas. 
This was the fifth appearance of the risen Saviour on 
that day. The disciples sat at meat with the doors shut, 
and probably guarded, for fear of the Jews. They were 
• ' terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had 
seen a spirit," although the women and the two disciples 
from Kmmaus all had testified that they had seen him. 
Jesus upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of 
heart, because they refused to believe those who had seen 
him after he had risen. To remove their fears and 
doubts, he said, ' l ' Behold my hands and my feet, that it is 
I myself ; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh 
and bones, as ye see me have." And he showed them 
his hands and his side. Then they were glad. Still 
further to reassure them, he asked for meat and ate 
before them a piece of broiled fish and of honey-comb, 
which were given him. Thus, strange to relate, he that 
had suddenly appeared and as suddenly vanished now 
eats as a man, convincing us that while he had powers 
not given to mortals, yet he was flesh and blood, and had 
returned to this life from the grave, like Lazarus, to live 
again, but not like him to return to the grave. 

He then reminded them of what he had taught them 



JESUS IN THE MIDST. 523 

while living — that all things written concerning him in 
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and the psalms must 
be fulfilled as they had been in his death and resurrection. 
He opened their understanding that they might know 
the scriptures, and said, "Thus it is written and thus it 
behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the 
third day ; that repentance and remission of sins should 
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem." Ye are witnesses of these things, he said — 
that is, of his life, death and resurrection, and then he 
commissioned them: " Go ye into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not 
shall be damned." He also gave them the promise : 
' ' These signs shall follow them that believe ; in my 
name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with 
tongues ; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink 
any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They shall lay 
hands on the sick and they shall recover." These won- 
derful miraculous powers were given to the apostles, and 
were exercised in the apostolic age. Before entering on 
their work of preaching to the nations they must tarry at 
Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on 
high. Again he said, " Peace be unto you ; as my 
Father hath sent me so send I you." And he breathed 
on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whoseso- 
ever sins ye remit they are remitted, and whosesoever 
sins ye retain they are retained. 

Thus closed the day on which the Lord arose. Thomas, 
called Didymus, or the twin, was not present when Jesus 
appeared to the "eleven." He was the absent one of 
that circle, and when they told him, "We have seen the 
Lord, ' ' he refused to believe saying, ' ' Except I shall see 



524 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



in his hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers 
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his 
side, I will not believe." 

At least one week after this the Lord appeared again 
to the disciples, and again on the Lord' s day and at Jeru- 
salem, and probably in the same upper room, the accus- 
tomed place of meeting. This time Thomas was present. 
Jesus stood in the midst and said, "Peace be unto you " 
Then he said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger and 
behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust 
it into my side ; " and be not faithless, but believing. 
The doubting disciple, rebuked and convinced, an- 
swered, "My Lord and my God." Jesus then said, 
' ' Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ; 
blessed are they that have not seen and yet have be- 
lieved." 




THE DOUBT OF THOMAS. 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 525 



CHAPTER CIII. 

JESUS IN GALILEE. 
Matt, xxviii. 16 ; John xxi. 1-23.— At the Sea of Galilee. 

lAROM Jerusalem the scene is transferred to Galilee 
-*- and on the shores of the sea. In obedience 

to the command of Jesus, spoken to them before 
his death and repeated by the angel and the women, the 
disciples, seeing that the Lord appeared no more to them 
in the city, left Jerusalem for the place of appointment 
in Galilee. We can trace their probable journey, first 
to the Jordan, and when they had reached its valley, 
following the river northward till they reach the sea 
through which it flows. We are told that the ''eleven" 
went. Where the other four were when the seven of 
them were fishing in the sea we know not, unless, with 
other members of the early church, they were hastening 
on to the appointed place of meeting, while these re- 
mained to fish and eat. 

Simon Peter said, "I go a fishing." The other dis- 
ciples — Thomas, called Didymus, Nathanael, the sons of 
Zebedee and two others — responded, ' ' We also go with 
thee." Some have detected here indications of despond- 
ency and doubt, driving these fishers of men back to 
their former occupation. But we rather think that the 
fascination of their calling or the necessities of life led 
them upon the sea to fish. However, Jesus meets them 
here and recalls them, by a second lesson, to the great 
work of their lives. 

They toiled all night without catching anything. 



526 THE STOR Y OF JESUS. 

In the dim light of the early dawn they saw some one 
on the shore whom they failed to recognize. It was 
Jesus who called to them, "Children, have ye any 
meat ? " " No," they answered. He then told them to 
cast the net on the " right side" of the ship, and they 
would find fish. They did so, and were not able to draw 
in the net for the multitude of fishes enclosed. John 
said to Peter, "It is the Lord. ' ' Peter at once fastened 
his fisher's coat about him and, casting himself into the 
sea, hastened to prostrate himself at the feet of Jesus. 

The other disciples came in the little boat, dragging 
the net to shore full of fishes. When they reached the 
land they saw a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon and 
bread beside it. Jesus told them to bring some fish to 
increase the store, and Peter helped to bring in the net, 
which contained one hundred and fifty -three fishes, and 
yet the net was unbroken. Jesus then invited them to 
come and breakfast. "None dared to ask, 'Who art 
thou?' knowing that it was the Lord." Jesus gave 
them of the bread and fish. 

After the meal Jesus addressed Peter, ( ' Simon, son 
of Jona, lovest thou me more than these?" Peter 
had boasted of his fidelity to Jesus, saying, "Although 
all shall be offended, yet will not I." He had denied 
his Lord; yet now, appealing to Jesus' divine know- 
ledge, he could answer, " Yea, Lord, thou knowest 
that I love thee." Jesus said to him, "Feed my 
lambs." Again Jesus asked, "Simon, son of Jona, 
lovest thou me ? ' ' And the second time Peter replied, 
"Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." Then, 
"Tend my sheep," said Jesus. The third time he says 
to Peter, " Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me? " Now 
Peter was grieved, because Jesus had asked him three 



JESUS IN GALILEE. 527 

times this same question. But three times had Peter 
denied his Lord, and three times must he confess him. 
Peter answers, u Lord, thou knowest all things : thou 
knowest that I love thee." Then Jesus said, " Feed my 
sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast 
young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou 
wouldest ; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch 
forth thy hands and another shall gird thee, and carry 
thee whither thou wouldest not." John tells us that 
Jesus said this, signifying by what manner of death he 
should glorify God. 

When he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me." 
John, the beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast 
at supper, and asked who should betray him, seeing 
Peter following Jesus, followed also. Peter turned and 
saw John, and said to Jesus, "Lord, and what shall 
this man do ? " Jesus replied, " If I will that he tarty 
till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." 
This vague answer gave rise to the error that John 
should live till his Lord shall come again. But this 
error John himself corrects. "Jesus said not unto him, 
he shall not die ; but, if I will that he tarry till I come, 
what is that to thee?" John did, however, outlive all 
the other apostles, and continued his work till the close 
of the first century of the Christian era. He " survived 
that terrible overthrow of his nation, which was, in a 
sense, more truly than any other event in human history, 
a second coming of the Lord." 



528 1HE STOR Y OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER CIV. 

THE MEETING ON THE MOUNTAIN. 

Matt, xxviii. 16-20 ; Mark xvi. 15-18 ; Acts i. 3-8 ; 1 Cor. xv. 6, 7.— A mountain in 
Galilee ; Jerusalem, a.d. 30. 

^T^HE next meeting of Jesus and his disciples was 
-*- that which took place by his appointment in 
Galilee. The Lord himself had said that he 
would meet the disciples in Galilee, where he would go 
before them. Probably at the last meeting on the shore 
of the sea Jesus designated the place of meeting in a cer- 
tain mountain. Whether this mountain was Tabor or the 
mount of Beatitudes we are not informed. This meet- 
ing was not restricted to the eleven, but all who desired 
to meet their risen Lord were probably invited. Paul, 
writing twenty or twenty-five years afterward, says that 
about five hundred brethren availed themselves of the 
invitation and met the Lord, of whom he says, the 
greater part were living when he wrote, though some of 
them had fallen asleep. 

Jesus came as he had appointed, and when they saw 
him some doubted even then, but the most of them wor- 
shiped him. We can imagine this mountain scene where 
were assembled all the apostles, the women of Galilee 
who stood by the cross, and Martha, Mary and Lazarus of 
Bethany, the counselors Joseph of Arimathea and Nicode- 
mus, who so tenderly buried him, and a multitude whose 
names are unknown. It was here and now that the 
Lord gave the great commission to the assembled church, 
as before in Jerusalem he had given it to the apostles. 



THE MEETING ON THE MOUNTAIN. 529 

First setting forth his claim to universal dominion and 
authority, u All power is given to me in heaven and in 
earth, ' ' he commands them : " Go ye therefore and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world." 

These disciples — all of them, the five hundred as well 
as the eleven — were to go with the gospel to all the. 
nations, to every creature, to make disciples of them and 
baptize them. Then they were to teach the new con- 
verts to observe and do all that Jesus commanded them. 
This is the double duty that the Lord has put upon his 
church — to labor to bring souls to him, and then to train 
them in every religious duty. One of the first duties of 
the new convert is to save souls by speaking or witness- 
ing for Christ. Not only is this commission given to 
the church as a body, but to each individual member, 
and upon obedience to this command rests the positive 
promise of the presence of the Lord, clothed with all his 
almighty power, to the end of time. Geikie says, "As 
at the first, so now at the last, the word was the only 
weapon by which his kingdom was to be spread. Rest- 
ing on persuasion and conviction from the beginning, it 
was left on the same basis now he was about to ascend to 
heaven." 

Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that, after 
this mountain meeting, Jesus appeared to James, the 
Lord's brother, who was the first bishop of Jerusalem. 

23 



530 THE STORY OF JESUS. 



CHAPTER CV. 

THE ASCENSION. 

Mark xvi. 19-20 ; I/uke xxiv. 50-53 ; John xx. 30-31, xxi. 24-25 ; Acts i. 9-12. — 
Bethany, May, a.d. 30. 

^ I ^HE disciples are again at Jerusalem. During forty 
-*- days after the resurrection, Jesus at intervals 
showed himself to his apostles. He did not 
dwell nor journey with them, because they must get 
used to his absence, and understand that he did not come 
forth from the grave to found a temporal kingdom. 
They needed his occasional presence, however, for there 
were some things yet for them to learn. Hence he not 
only showed himself alive after his passion, but he spoke 
of "the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 
Now the time for his final departure from them is at 
hand. He tells them not to depart at once from Jerusa- 
lem to carry into the world his gospel, but to '" ' wait for 
the promise of the Father which," saith he, u ye have 
heard of me, for John baptized with water : but ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence, " 
for the day of Pentecost was then near at hand. Ten 
more days of united prayer and they would be endued 
with power for their work by the descent of the Holy 
Spirit upon them. When they were assembled they 
asked him, among other things, whether at that time he 
would restore the kingdom to Israel ; showing that still 
they thought of a temporal kingdom to be established 
by force. But he replied for the last time, "It is not 
for you to know the times or the seasons which the 



THE ASCENSION. 



531 



Father hath put in his own power." Again he pro- 
ceeds to tell them their duty and to give them their 
work. 

They were to take his gospel, the preaching of the cross, 
into all the earth and in that sign were to conquer the 
nations and extend his kingdom among men. Yours 
is not temporal power. But the weapons of your war- 
fare are spiritual, for ' ' ye shall receive power after that 
the Holy Ghost is come upon you : ye shall be witnesses 
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
Leading them, the Lord takes up his journey from the 
city across the valley and by the garden of Gethsemane 
and over the Mount of Olives as far as Bethany. There, 
after he had conversed with the disciples and while he 
blessed them, he was parted from them, and as they 
looked upon him he was taken up and a cloud received 
him out of their sight. He was received up into heaven 
and sat on the right hand of God. Luke, in the Acts of 
the Apostles, says, u While they looked steadfastly toward 
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in 
white apparel ; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus who is 
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." " Then 
they returned to Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, 
which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey." 

Luke, at the close of his gospel, says, " They wor- 
shiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy : 
and were continually in the temple, praising and bless- 
ing God." Mark adds relative to their work afterwards, 
after the Spirit was given at Pentecost, that they went 
forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with 



53 



THE STORY OF JESUS. 



them, and confirming the word with signs following. 
Amen. 

John, in the conclusion of his gospel, testifies, u And 
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his 
disciples, which are not written in this book. But these 
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might 
have life through his name. And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which if they should 
be written every one, I suppose that even the world 
itself could not contain the books that should be written. 
Amen. ' ' 




THE ASCENSION. 



IN DEX 



A ARON, house of, 38. 
Abib or Niean, 71. 

Abraham, ancestor of Christ, 5 ; Christ be- 
fore, 333. 

Accusations against Jesus, 123, 470-4!)2. 

Advent of Christ, second, 381, 432-437, 447. 

Mnon, 88, 129. 

Alchemist, the, 43. 

Andrew, 101. 

Angels appear to Zacharias in the tem- 
ple, 10-15; to many at various times, 
13; to Virgin Mary, 19; to Joseph, 27; 
to shspherds, 34 ; to Jesus in garden, 
400. 

Anna, the prophetess, 39. 

Annas, high priest, 82 ; Jesus before, 400. 

Antipas, Herod, 54, 82 ; arrests John, 130; 
beheads John, 273 ; thinks Jesus is John 
risen, 273 ; Jesns warned of arrest by, 309 ; 
tries Jesus, 487. 

Apostles, the, chosen, 212-217 ; before 
kings, 272; second circuit with Christ of 
Galilee, 241 ; sent to preach, 207, 20S ; to 
stand before kings, 271 ; all forsake Jesus, 
465. 

Arche!aus reigns in Herod's place, 54. 

Astrology, Eastern and Western, 43-45. 

Atonement, Day of, 11. 

Augustine upon likenesses of Christ, 103. 

"DABES, truths revealed unto, 235. 

Baptism, by John, 82 ; of Jesns, 80 ; of 

the Spirit, 84, 98 ; of sufferings, 398. 
Barabbas released, 490. 
Bartholomew, the apostle, 108. 
Bartimens, 4o4. 
Beatitudes, Mount of, or Horns of Hittin, 

160. 



Beatitudes, the, 161. 

Beelzebub, prince of devils, Jesus accused 
of being in league with, 190, 326, 344. 

Bethabara, or Bethany, 88, 98. 

Bethany, 405, 444. 

Bethphage, 409 

Bethlehem, Christ born at, 27 ; prophecy re- 
specting, 47 ; surroundings of, 30. 

Bethsaula, Galilee, 107, 232, 336. 

Bethsaida, Julias, 277, 299. 

Bigotry of the Jews, 173. 

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, 245, 
347. 

Blessed, the, 344. 

Bread of life, Jesus the, 284. 

Bntaiha, 299. 

/"1/ESAR Augustus, emperor, 27. 

Caesar, tribute to, 425. 
Caiaphas, 82; prophecy of, 380 ; priests and 

scribes conspire against Christ with, 444 ; 

Jesus before, 470. 
Camel's hair garment, 80. 
Cana, of Galilee, home of Nathanael, 108, 

110; marriage at, 110-116; second mira- 
cle of Christ at, 141. 
Capernaum, described, 148, 150, 151 ; 

doomed, 232, 330. 
Cave of Machpelah, at Hebron, 21-22. 
! Centurion, servant of, cured, 221. 
Cesarea Philippi, 86, 300, 306. 
Chief priests, elders and scribes ask Christ 

to show his authority, 420; conspire, 

444. 
Children received of Jesus, 390. 
Children, parental control of, 76. 
Chora/in, 2:52, 336. 
Christ, opinions of men concerning, 2, 3 > 

533 



534 



INDEX 



foretold, 4 ; Jewish conception of, 4 . 

lineage, 4; the anointed, 5 ; Messiah, 

5; David's Son, 5-8; the word, 9; 

the light of the world, 9 ; to be born at 

Bethlehem, and of seed of David, 28 ; 

general expectation regarding, 4, 42 ; John 

the forerunner of, 82 ; how known to the 

Baptist, 84 ; desire of all nations, 101 ; 

Jesus confessed as, 300 ; Jesus, the Son of 

David, 404; Jesus the, 4, 304, 327, 331; 

demons recognize Jesus as the, 157; the 

judge, 175 ; evidences that Jesus was the, 

228 ; Jesus confesses himself to be the 

Christ, 471 ; a King, 485. 
Christian Era, the beginning of, 27, 28. 
Christianity, blessings of, 263 ; spiritual, 

not external, 393. 
Christianity, test of, 108. 
Christians, sons of God, 9; few perished 

when Jerusalem fell, 385, 433, 435. 
Christs, false, 206, 246, 383, 433, 435. 
Church, the, for the whole world, 271. 
Circumcision, 36. 
Commandments of God, 291, 392 ; two great, 

427. 
Common people, and Jewish rulers, 364 ; and 

Jesus, 365. 
Council, the, Jesus before, the first time, 

202 ; discourse of Jesus before the, 204. 
Covetousness condemned, 348 ; of Pharisees, 

370. 
Cross foretold, the, 126, 414. 
Crucifixion, the, Jews demand, of Jesus, 

491, 493 ; of Jesus, 499. 
Cyril, of Alexandria, brought images of 

Christ into churches, 103. 
Church of the Annunciation, 17. 
Cleopas, 242, 519. 
Comforter promised, 454. 
Commission, the great, 523, 529. 



T)ALMANUTHA, 297. 

Dancing, 275. 
David, ancestor of Christ,5, 6,243, 401 ; calls 

Christ Lord, 8, 428. 
David tending sheep, 34. 
Dead Sea, 86. 

DeWette, Testimony to Jesu3 of, 2. 
Decapolis, 261. 
Dedication, Feast of, 355. 



Demons recognize Jesus as Son of God, 155, 
157, 212, 263. 

Disciples, the first, 100-105 ; called to be 
fishers of men, 154 ; salt and light, 161 ; 
given power to perform miracles, 269 ; 
unbelief of, 282; what became of them, 
315 ; three favored ones, 306 ; carnal 
ideas of Christ held by the, 312, 447 ; con- 
tend who shall be greatest, 313 ; worldly 
ambition of, 397 ; where they preached, 
434 ; last words to, 453 ; Jesus appears to, 
516, 522. 

Disease the result of sin, 202. 

Divorce, Christ on, 165 ; Jewish views of, 
166 ; law of, 370 ; discourse on, 386 ; 
Moses and, 388 ; to watch, 436. 

T7AST, the, still as it was, 57. 

Egypt, the refuge of Jesus, 51. 

Elijah, 143. 

Elisha, 143. 

Elizabeth, mother of the Baptist, 11 ; pro- 
phecy concerning, 14 ; Mary's visit to, 20. 

Emmanuel, Jesus called, 27. 

Em ma us, walk to, 519. 

Engedi, spring of the wild goats, 79. 

Ephraim, 381. 

Esdraelon, plain of, 29. 

Essenes, the, 80. 

Eternal death, 373, 443. 

Eternal life, through Christ, 126, 431 ; the gift 
of Christ, 285 ; entered upon at death, 427 ; 
reward of the righteous, 443. 

Eye of a needle and camel, 393. 

T^AITH, necessary to salvation, 126 ; Dr. 
E. W. Adams on, 22. 

Fasting, Jesus and, 170 ; Pharisees and, 188. 

First-born presented in temple and re- 
deemed, 36. 

Followers of Christ must give up all for 
him, 319, 363, 393. 

Funerals, in the east, 191, 224. 

Future state of the dead, 369, 426. 

Q.ADARA and Gersa, 261. 

Galilee, 17, 59 ; Jesus appears in, to 

disciples, 525. 
Galilee, Sea of, 257, 258, 280. 
Genealogies of Jesus, 5-9 ; by Matthew and 

Luke harmonized, 67-8. 



INDEX. 



535 



Gennesareth, sea of, 280 ; plain of, 282, 297. 
Gentiles to come to Christ, 43; in temple, 

71. 
Gerizim and Ebal, mountains, 133, 135. 
Gethsemane, garden of, 460. 
Giving, law of, 107. 
God, testifies to Jesus, 89, 92, 308 ; a spirit, 

137. 
Golden Rule, 174, 219. 
Gospel, revealed to babes, 336 ; to be preacbed 

in all tbe world, 433, 531 ; for Jew and 

Gentile, 294. 
Gospels, testimony of the four, to Christ, 4. 
Greek language, the, Roman Empire and 

Jewish synagogue all pervading, 24. 
Greek language spoken and written, 53. 
Greeks want to see Jesus, 414. 

JJALLEL, the, 74. 

Hebrew language, 53. 

Hebron, the residence of Zachariah, 11, 15- 
17 ; birth-place of the Baptist, 21. 

Herder's opinion of Christ, 2. 

Hermon, Mt., place of transfiguration, 307. 

Herod the great, usurper, 18 ; troubled by 
visit of Magi, 47 ; his cruel character, 49 ; 
slays the babes of Bethlehem, 50. 

Herod ias and Salome, 273. 

Herodians and Pharisees unite to accuse Je- 
sus before Pilate, 424 ; silenced, 426. 

High priest, uffice of, 467. 

Holy Spirit, the, inspires Elizabeth and 
Mary, 20; descends upon Jesus, 88-90 
leads Jesus, 91 ; baptism of, 98, 100 
work of, 126; blasphemy against, 347 
desseinination of the gospel by, 383 ; to 
guide disciples, 433 ; promised, 313, 454, 
456, 530, 531. 

Home life at Nazareth, 60-69. 

Honey, wild, in the rocks, 80. 

Houses in the east, 182. 

Humility to characterize followers of Christ, 
399. 

TNN, or Khan, 30, 31. 

Isaiah, prophecy of, concerning Christ. 
143, 157, 212 ; quoted, 431. 

JACOB'S well, 134, 135. 

James, Jesus appears to, 529. 
Jairus, 190. 



Jars, water, 112. 

Jeremiah, the prophet, quoted, 51. 

Jericho, ford near, 87, 88, 98, 129 ; city of, 
road to and plain of, 400. 

Jerusalem, 10 ; conquered by Romans, 47 ; 
during Passover, 70, 119, 120 ; lamenta- 
tion of Jesus over, 360 ; destruction of, 
foretold, 382 ; Christ enters, 409 ; Jesus 
laments over, and predicts ruin of, 412, 
430 ; prediction realized, 413 ; destruction 
of, foretold, 432-437. 

Jesus, opinions of great men concerning, 
2-4 ; the Christ, 4 ; the Saviour, 4 ; gene- 
alogy of, 4-9 ; Son of God and Son of 
Man, 8 ; Light of world, 9 ; born, 27-35 ; 
presented in the temple, 36-41 ; wise men 
visit, 42-48 ; taken into Egypt, 49-53 ; re- 
turn to Nazareth, 54 ; boyhood of, 55-64 ; 
in the temple with the doctors, 65-76 ; un- 
known to John, 84 ; baptism of, 86-90 ; 
the temptation of, 91-97 ; testimony of 
John concerning, 98-100 ; first disciples of, 
100, 101, 106-109 ; personal appearance of, 
102-105 ; Son of God and Saviour of world, 
107; attends marriage at Cana, 110-115; 
purifies the temple, 119-123 ; foretells his 
resurrection, 123 ; and Nicodemus, 124- 
127 ; Judean ministry of, 128 ; did not bap- 
tize, 128, 129 ; ministry of, in Galilee, 130 ; 
and Samaritan woman, 133-140 ; rejected at 
Nazareth, 141-146 ; second of, miracle at 
Cana, 141 ; makes Capernaum his abode, 
147-151 ; miracles and teaching of, at Caper- 
naum, 153-158 ; delivers the Sermon on 
the Mount, 159-176 ; heals a leper, 177- 
181 ; paralytic healed by, 182-185 ; calls 
Matthew and attends his feast, 186-189 ; 
Jairus' daughter raised by, 190-192 ; cures 
woman with issue of blood, 193-196 ; cures 
impotent man, 199-203 ; defence of, when 
before the council for violating the Sab- 
bath, 204-206; healing and plucking 
grain on the Sabbath, 207-211 ; chooses 
the twelve, 212-217 ; sermon of, on plain, 
218-220 ; cures centurion's servant, 221- 
223 ; raises widow's son, 224-226 ; mes- 
sage of, to the Baptist, 227-231 ; upbraids 
the unrepentant cities, 232-236; anointed 
in the house of Simon, 237-242 ; accused 
of being in league with Beelzebub, 243- 
249 ; speaks in parable of sower, &c, 250- 



536 



INDEX. 



256; stills the storm, 257-260; demoniac 
of Gadara cured by, 261-266 ; sends the 
twelve forth, 267-272 ; feeds the multitude, 
277-279 ; walks on the water, 280-283 ; the 
bread of life, 284-285 ; denounces form 
and tradition, 289-292 ; feeds four thou- 
sand people, 295-298 ; transfiguration of, 
306-309 ; cures demoniac boy, 310-312 ; 
instructs his disciples and pays tribute, 
313 ; leaves Galilee for Jerusalem, 317, 318 ; 
has not where to lay his head, 319 ; at- 
tends feast of tabernacles, 323-327 ; charg 
es against, 326 ; foretells his death, 327 ; 
teaches in temple, 328-333 ; forgives 
woman taken in sin, 331 ; light of world, 
332, 352 ; before Abraham, 333 ; sends forth 
the seventy, 334-337 ; first visit to Beth- 
any, 341 ; exposes hypocrisy, 344 ; often 
repeats himself, 344 ; restores sight to a 
blind man and calls himself the Good 
Shepherd, 352-358 ; ministry in Perea, 
359-363 ; raises Lazarus, 375-380 ; coming 
of, 381-385; little children, and the 
young ruler, 390; baptism of suffering 
of, 398 ; calls Zaccheus and restores to 
sight Bartimeus, 400-405 ; at Bethany, 
405 ; Jews agree to put to death, 405 ; 
public entry into Jerusalem, 409-415 ; 
again purifies the temple, 416 ; last words 
of, to Jews, 426 ; foretells destruction of 
Jerusalem, 432 ; on the judgment-seat, 
443 ; at house of Simon, the leper, 444 ; 
eats the last Passover, 444-449 ; anointed 
again, 445 ; washes feet of disciples, 447 ; 
foretells his betrayal, 448 ; institutes the 
Supper, 450-452 ; parting words to and 
prayer for his disciples, 453-458 ; in Geth- 
semane, 460-465 ; tried by Annas, 466-469 ; 
before Caiaphas, 470-472 ; denied by Pe- 
ter, 473-175 ; before the Sanhedrin, 476- 
480 ; before Pilate, 481-486 ; sent to Her- 
od, 487, 488 ; before Pilate again, 489-492 ; 
scourged, 493-495 ; on the way to Calvary, 
496-498 ; crucified, 499-504 ; buried, 505- 
509 ; resurrection of, 513-515 ; appears to 
several, 515-518 ; to two disciples, 519 ; to 
the eleven, 522-524 ; in Galilee, 525-527 ; 
meets the church on a mountain, 528, 529 ; 
ascension of, 530. 
Jews, the expecting universal empire, 4, 42, 
160 ; in Egypt, 53 ; corrupt, 81 ; object to 



pictures and images, 102 ; bigotry of, 173 ; 
many believe, 379 ; impenitent as a nation 
421 ; kingdom of God to be taken from, 
422 ; unbelief of, 431. 

Joanna, 242. 

John the Baptist, birth and mission of, fore- 
told, 14 ; birth and childhood of, 21-2 V ; 
beginning of the ministry of, 79-85 ; testi- 
fied concerning Christ, 84, 98, 100 ; im- 
prisoned, 128 ; disciples complaiu of Jesus 
to, 129 ; testifies again for Jesus, 129-130 ; 
disciples of, come to Jesus about fasting, 
188 ; a witness for Christ, 206 ; place of 
imprisonment of, 227 ; eulogy of Jesus on, 
230 ; beheaded, 273 ; rejected, 298 ; Elijah, 
309 ; baptism of, from heaven, 420. 

John, the Evangelist, 101, 473, 514, 527. 

Jordan, the river, John baptizing at, 82 ; 
valley of, 86 ; places at, where John 
was baptizing, 87, 98 ; Jesus baptizes at, 
129. 

Joseph of Arimathea, 477, 508. 

Joseph, husband of Mary, angel appears to, 
27 ; death of, 64. 

Joseph and Mary, ancestry of, 5-9 ; poverty 
of, 18 ; espousal and marriage, 19, 27 ; go 
to Bethlehem, 27-35 ; journey to Bethle- 
hem described by Geikie, 29; take the 
babe to Jerusalem, 36; return to Nazareth, 
41 ; flight unto Egypt, 49 ; return, 54 ; go 
to Nazareth, 54 ; attend Passover, 70. 

Josephus, genealogy of, 6 ; speaks of gener- 
al expectation concerning the coming of 
Christ, 4, 50 ; speaks of Jewish genealogy, 
6 ; reliability, 50. 

Judas Iscariot, 445, 463, 478. 

Judajus Maccabeus, 355. 

Judea, wilderness of, where John dwelt, 79 ; 
scene of the temptation, 91. 

Judge, Jesus the, 204, 205, 332, 412, 443. 

Judgment day, the description of, 441. 

Judgments of God, 276, 385, 491. 

Justin Martyr, 32. 

TZ-ING, Jesus a, 485, 490, 501. 

Kingdom of Heaven or of God, or of 
Christ, spiritual, 42 ; repentance in view 
of its approach, preached by John, 82 ; its 
spiritual nature, 82 ; must be born again to 
enter it, 126 ; at hand, 130 ; to be estab- 
lished by instruction, 159; its spiritual 



INDEX. 



537 



nature, 100-103 ; to be sought first, 172; 
those who shall enter, 174 ; temporal, 
looker! for, 207 ; its coming, 305 ; likened 
to a child, 313 ; to he sought first of all, 
34'.) ; when it should come, 382 ; to be re- 
ceived as a child, 390 ; who greater, 397 ; 
to be taken from the Jews, 422 ; speedy 
coming, 447 ; not of this world, 485. 

r AMB of God, the, Jesus, 99, 100. 

Lamp, Christian, a, 253. 
Law, the, Christ came to fulfill, 102; greater 

and lesser commands of, 1G3 ; to bo kept 

inwardly' as well as outwardly, 164 ; love 

the fulfilling of, 338, 427. 
Lawyers denounced by Christ, 310. 
Lazarus of Bethany, 341 ; raised from dead, 

375 ; Jews conspire to put him to death, 

405. 
Lebanon, 80. 

Lentulus' letter describing Christ, 104. 
Leprosy, the disease of, 177-180. 
Levi, tribe of, the priests, 38. 
Locusts for food, 80. 
Love of enemies, 167. 
Luther's dream story of the child-life of 

Christ, 03. 
Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, 82. 



AJ"ACILERUS, prison of the Baptist, 227, 

1 273. 

Magdala, 297. 

Magi, the, 42-48. 

Marriage, feast, 110 ; right and good, 389 ; 
our future state, 42( 
east, 439. 

Martha and Mary, 311 : 
37s ; at supper, 444. 

Mary Magdalene, 241, 
pears to, 515. 

Mary, the Virgin— her ancestry, 6-8 ; es- 
poused to Joseph, 19 ; annunciation of the 
birth of Christ to, 17-20 ; visit of to Eliza- 
beth and song of, 20 ; representations of, 
60 ; trains Jesus, 05. 

Matthew called, 186. 

Meals in the east, 345. 

Merom, 86. 

Messiah, the, 3 ; of the lineage of Abraham 
and David, 4 ; spiritual conception of the, 



; ceremony in the 
at grave of Lazarus, 
514 ; the Lord ap" 



4 ; meaning of word, 5 ; Jesus, the, 4-9, 
28 ; Elijah to come before, 99 ; carnal 
views of the, 160 ; confessed by the Sa- 
maritan woman, 157 ; people believe that 
Jesus is the, 228, 279 ; John forerunner of, 
82 ; Jesus recognized by Anna and Simeon, 
391 ; days of, glorious, 337 ; Jesus' works 
prove him to .be the, 356 ; doom of Jews 
for rejecting, 404 ; Jesus the, 304, 327, 331, 
428, 471, 485. 

Mieah, the prophet, quoted, 480. 

Ministry to be supported, 269, 335. 

Miracles, the first, ot Christ at Cana, 110 ; 
many, by Christ at Jerusalem, 123 ; the 
proof of Christ's claims, 125 ; second, at 
Cana, 141 ; of the draught of fishes, 153 ; 
demon cast out, 155 ; Peter's mother-in law 
cured, 156 ; many performed, 157 ; place 
of, in establishing the church, 159 ; leper 
healed, 177 ; paralytic healed, 182 ; raising 
of Jairus' daughter, 190 ; woman with 
issue of blood, 193 ; two blind men cured, 
196 ; impotent man, 199 ; servant of cen- 
turion cured, 221 ; raising of the widow's 
son, 224 ; tempest stilled, 257 ; the cure of 
the demoniac at Gadara, 261 ; not to con- 
vince skeptics, 267 ; the feeding of the 
five thousand, 279; many healed, 280; 
walking on the water, 280 ; stilling the 
storm, 280 ; cure of daughter of woman of 
Canaan, 293 ; four thousand fed, 295 ; 
discussed by Jews, 327 ; cure deaf and 
dumb demoniac, 344 ; blind man restored 
to sight, 352 ; infirm woman cured 359 ; 
man with dropsy cured, 361 ; cure of ten 
lepers, 381 ; Bartimeus' sight restored, 
404 ; the fig-tree withered, 416, 419 ; Dr. 
Bu8hnell on, 226 ; Farrar on, 259, 282, 532. 

Mite, the widow's, 431. 

Moses in desert, 81 ; burning bush, 427. 



JJAAMAN, the Syrian, 143. 

Nablous, 133-135. 
Nain, 224. 

Napoleon, testimony of Jesus, 3. 
Nathanael confesses Christ, 108, 109, 525. 
Nativity, the cave of, 32-35. 
Nazarene, Jesus called a, 245. 
Nazareth, location and beauty of, 17 ; home 
of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, 17, 54 ; 



23' 



538 



INDEX. 



described by Geikie, 57 ; by Farrar, 58 ; 
traffic and bad name of, 60 ; influence of, 
in training of Jesus, 57, 60 ; home-life at, 
61 ; Jesus rejected at, 141 ; Jesus again 
visits, 267 ; " Jesus of," 464. 

Nazarite, the Baptist a, 80. 

New birth, necessity of, 126. 

Nicephorus' description of Jesus, 103. 

Nicodemus, comes to Christ by night, 124, 
477, 508. 

Nineveh, 315, in the day of judgment, 248. 

/"iATHS, views of Jesus and Jews regard- 
ing, 166 ; Scribes and Pharisees and 
false, 429. 
Obedience, necessity of, to God, 174. 
Olives, Mount of, 410. 

PALESTINE, situation of, 1 ; divisions of, 
17 ; a conquered province of Roman 
Empire, 14, 27 ; now occupied by Moslems, 
21 ; prosperous, 81. 

Parable of the wise and foolish builders, 
175 ; defined, 250 ; of sower, tares, lamp, 
mustard seed, leaven, seed in ground, 
250-256 ; of the unmerciful servant, 216 ; 
of good Samaritan, 338 ; on prayer, 342 ; 
of barren fig-tree, 351 ; of the sheepfold, 
354 ; of mustard seed and leaven, 35!) ; of 
the great supper, 362 ; of lost sheep, lost 
coin, lost son, 364 ; rich man and Laza- 
rus, 369 ; of the unjust steward, 369 ; on 
prayer, 386 ; of the laborers in the vine- 
yard, 394 ; of the ten pounds, 402 ; of the 
two sons and the wicked husbandmen, 419; 
of the marriage of the king's son, 423 ; 
fig-tree and householder, 436 ; ten virgins 
and ten talents, 438 ; of the vines, 455. 

Passover, the, 11 ; manner of observing, 
71-75 ; first, in public life of Jesus, 119 ; 
second, in ministry of Jesus, 199 ; third, 
in the public life of the Lord, 289 ; week 
of last, 4(18 ; last Passover, &c, 446. 

Pella, Christians flee to, 435. 

Perea, ministry of Jesus in, 359, 388. 

Persecution foretold, 270 ; endured, 272. 

Personal appearance of Jesus, 102-105. 

Peter brought to Christ, 106 ; walks on the 
water, 281 ; his confession of Christ, 285, 
300 ; meaning of name, 302 ; fall of, fore- 
told, 450 ; tempts Christ, 304 ; in the gar- 



den, 464 ; denies the Lord, 473 ; repents, 
479, 514 ; Jesus sends him a message, 518 ; 
the Lord appears to, 518 ; goes fishing, 519. 

Peter, John and James especially honored 
by Christ, 192, 306, 460. 

Pharisee, Jesus dines with a, 345, 361. 

Pharisees and Sadducees refused baptism, 
82, 231 ; corrupt leaders, 84 ; oppose 
Christ, 279 ; unite, 297. 

Pharisees, some believe in Jesus, 124 ; ob- 
ject to Jesus consorting with sinners, 187 ; 
accuse Jesus of desecrating the Sabbath, 
207 ; and outward cleanness, 346 ; en- 
raged against Christ, 347 ; tempt Jesus, 
387 ; and the law, 427 ; take little part in 
the death of Christ, 468. 

Philip, the Apostle, 107, 454. 

riiilip, tetrarch of Iturea, 82 ; tetrarchy of, 
300. 

Physicians and medical practice in the East, 
193. 

Pilate, 81; the Galileans and, 350; Jesus be- 
fore, 481, 489. 

Pompey captures Jerusalem, 47. 

Pool of Bethesda, 199. 

Pool, St. Stephen's, 200. 

Pool of Siloam, 328 ; blind man washes in, 
352. 

Poor, Christ's mission to the, 161 ; oppressed 
by the Jewish teachers and rulers, 364. 

Poverty of Joseph and Mary, 18, 31, 32. 

Prayer, Jesus prays in private, 157 ; Jesus 
teaching regarding, 1C9, 171, 173, 313; 
Lord's, 170, 343 ; for more laborers, 268 ; 
short, 282 ; Jesus at, 307 ; parables on, 
343, 386; Lord's prayer for his disciples, 
457. 

Priests, Jewish, 11. 

Providence of God, 347-351. 

Publican and Pharisee at prayer, 3S6. 

Publicaus and sinners, 186 ; Clirist dines 
with, 187 ; draw near to hear Jesus, 3C-5. 

Purification, laws and customs regarding, 
36. 

"DABBI, Jesus called, 100. 

Rabbis, disciples of, 102. 
Rachel weeping for her children, 51. 
Ramah, 51. 

Relatives of Jesus seek him, 248 ; named, 
267. 



INDEX. 



539 



Religion, true, spiritual, 291. 
Repentance preached, 82 ; duty of, 350. 
destitution, law of, 402. 

Resurrection of body, Jews believed in, 378, 
426. 

Resurrection, the of Christ, foretold by him- 
self, 123, 204, 205 j prefigured by Jonah, 
246, 298 ; a fact, 513 ; report of soldiers 
concerning, 517 ; regarded as beyond doubt 
by Ewald, 517. 

Resurrection and life, Jesus the, 205. 

Revenge forbidden, 167. 

Revenges of history, 491. 

Reward, of those who leave all for Christ, 
394, 398. 

Rich, the, hard for, to be saved, 393. 

Richter, Jean Paul, his opinion of Christ, 2. 

Roman Empire, its universality aids in ex- 
tending the gospel, 24; its extent, 81. 

Rousseau's opiuion of Jesus, 2. 

O ABB AT II, the Jews evaded observance of, 
209 ; Jesus accused of violating the, 
202 ; its proper observance, 202, 207, 210 ; 
Jewish strictness regarding, 208 ; suffered 
to be kept in heaven and lull, 209 ; David 
and the, 20.1 ; Sabbath day's journey, 203 ; 
Jesus, Lord of, 210 ; for man, 210 ; Jesus 
defines laws of, 326; Jesus restores blind 
on the, 352 ; Jesus hea'ed infirm woman 
on, 359 ; ruler of synagogue indignant 
thereat, 359. 

Sadducees, doctrine of, 192 ; tempt Jesus, 
426 ; are foremost in trial and death of 
Jesus, 468. 

Salome, 212 ; brings her sons to Jesus, 397. 

Salutations in the east, 335. 

Samaria, 17 ; described by Geikie, 134 ; Christ 
in, 136. 

Samaritan, the Good, 338. 

Samaritans reject Christ, 317. 

Samaritans and Jews, hatred between, 133. 

Sanhedrin, 47 ; Jesus before, 203, 471, 476. 

Satan, tempts Christ, 91 ; fall of, 336. 

Saviour, Jesus the, 34, 90, 126, 318, 501. 

Scribes and Pharisees, corrupt teachers, 81 : 
outwardly righteous, 163 ; teaching of, 
175 ; denounced for formalism and tradi- 
tions, 289-292 ; complain that Jesus re 
ceives sinners, 365 ; in Moses' seat, 429 ; 
hypocrites, 429. 



Scriptures, testify of Christ, 47, 2u6 ; Ian 
guage, in which written, 53. 

Septuagint, 53. 

Scppboris, 60. 

Sermon on the Mount, 159, 176. 

Sermon on the plain, 218-220. 

Seventy sent forth, 334. 

Sheba, Queen of, and Solomon, 248, 345. 

Sheep, Jesus promises to keep his, 357. 

Sidon and Tyre, 233, 293. 

Siloam, tower of, 359. 

Simeon, the aged, 39. 

Simon of Cyrene, 497. 

Simon, the Pharisee, feast of, 237. 

Sin cause of suffering, 350. 

Sodom and Gomorrah, 235, 270. 

Solomon, 233. 

Solomon's porch, 94, 355. 

Son of God, the, Jesus, 8, 89, 92, 205, 308, 
385, 532 ; Jesus claims to be, 353, 357, 471, 
478 ; confessed by Martha to be, 378 ; com- 
ing of, sudden, 384. 

Son of man, the, Jesus, 185. 

Sorcery among the Jews, 244. 

Star, the, in the east, 45, 46. 

Sufferings of Christ accounted for, 462, 463. 

Supper, Lord's, instituted, 450 ; Paul 
speaks of, 451 ; meaning of, 452. 

Susanna, 242. 

Swine, destruction of the herd of, 264. 

Synagogue, the, influence of upon spread of 
Christianity, 24 ; service of, 65-69 ; influ- 
ence of, in training of Christ, 69,142 ; wor- 
ship of the, 145 ; Jesus preaches in, 137. 
Synoptical gospels, 130. 
Syria, fame of Jesus goes through, 157. 

rpABEBNACLES, the, divisions of, 10. 
Tabernacles, Feast of, 317, 323, 328. 

Table, reclining at, 237. 

Tabor, Mt. not nit. of transfiguration, 306. 

Talmuds, 290. 

Tares, 253. 

Teacher, Jesus a, 125, 159. 

Teaching of Jesus, character of, 159, 175. 

Temple at Jerusalem, angel in the, 10 ; 
Solomon's, 10 ; Herod's, 10 ; service and 
furniture of, 11-13 ; scene in, 15 ; influence 
of the service of, 70 ; purified by Christ, 
119 ; service in, 328 ; traders driven from, 
again, 416 ; destruction foretold, 432. 



54o 



INDEX. 



Thief, the penitent, 502. 

Thomas, 454 ; the apostle, doubt of, 523. 

Tiberias, city of, described, 149. 

Tiberius, Emperor, 181. 

Titus takes Jerusalem, 435. 

Tradition, 55, 290. 

Traveling in the east, 28. 

Treasure in heaven, 171. 

Tree known by its fruits, 174. 

Truth, church extended by dissemination of 

the, 159, 383. 
Tyre and Sidon, 233 ; Jesus near, 293. 



TJN BELIEF at Nazareth, 143, 267 ; of the 

Jews, 297, 431. 
Unity of believers, 458. 
Unleavened bread, feast of, 72. 



"\rAIL, the, of the temple, 10, 11 ; rent, 
505. 



WASHING of hands, 289. 

Wine, use of, among the Jews, 114, 
115. 

Woes, 219. 

Woman, her position under the gospel, 389. 

Women, the, who attended Jesus, 241 ; at 
the cross, 502 ; at sepulchre, 513 ; Christ 
appears to, 516 ; sent to bear the news of 
the resurrection to disciples, 515, 520. 

Word of God, gives life, 92. 

World, preparation of, for the gospel, 24. 

VOUNG, the, and Jesus, 390. 

VACCHEUS, the publican, 400. 

Zachariah, father of the Baptist, 11 ; 

angel appears to, 13-15 ; prophecy of, at 

birth of John, 23. 
Zealots, the, 160. 

Zebedee's children, ambition of, 397. 
Zebulon and Nephthalim, 147. 
Zechariah, the prophet, speaks of Christ as 

king, 411. 



TABLES SHOWING WHERE TO FIND ANY 
PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE NECES- 
SARY TO THE HARMONY 
OF THE GOSPELS. 



THE CHAPTERS ARE ARRANGED IN THE ORDER OE TIME IN WHICH 
THE EVENTS OCCURRED, AND THE RELATED SCRIPTURE IS FOUND 
AT THE HEAD OF EACH CHAPTER. 



MATTHEW. 


MATTHEW. 


MATTHEW. 


MARK. 


MARK. 


* 


2 


® 

S 1 


* 

08 


d 

2 




£■ 


1 


b0 


- 


. 

9 
u 


be 


P. 

03 


o5 

2 


bj) 


S3 


s> 


,d 


« 


s 


^ 


0) 


eo 


~ 


<u 


a 


J3 


P 


eg 


C 


> 


Oh 


3 


> 


Ph 


o 


> 


£ 




> 


ft 


5 


> 


0< 


1 


1-17 


5 


12 


15-21 


212 


27 


15-26 


489 


6 


45-56 


280 


16 


12-13 


519 


1 


18-25 


27 


12 


22-50 


243 


27 


26-30 


493 


7 


1-23 


289, 


16 


14 


522 


1 


25 


36 


13 


1-53 


250 


27 


31-34 


496 


7 


24-30 


293 


16 


15-18 


528 


2 


1-12 


42 


13 


54-58 


267 


27 


35-56 


499 


7 


31-37 


295 1 


16 


19,20 


530 


2 


13-23 


49 


14 


1-12 


273 


27 


57-66 


509 


8 


1-26 


295! 








3 


1-12 


79 


14 


13-21 


277 


28 


1-8 


513 


8 


27-38 
1 


300 




3 


13-17 


86 1 


14 


22-36 


280 


28 


9-15 


515 


9 


300 


LUKE. 


4 


1-11 
12 


91 
128 


15 
15 


1-20 
21-28 


289 
293 


28 
28 


16 
16-20 


525 

528 


9 
9 


2-13 
14-32 


306 
310 


4 








4 


13, 17 
13-16 


141 
147 


15 
16 


29 
1-12 


295 
295 








9 
10 


33-50 

1-12 

13-31 


313 
386 
390 ! 


1 

1 
1 


1-4 

5-25 
26-56 


1 


4 




10 
17 


4 


18-22 


163 


16 


13-28 


300 




MARK. 


10 


4 


23-25 
1-20 


169 
159 


17 
17 


1-13 

14-23 


306 
310 1 






10 

10 


32-48 
46-59 


397 j 
400 


1 

2 


57-80 
1-20 


21 


5 




1-8 


79 


27 


5 


21-48 


166 


17 


24-27 


313 




9-11 


86 


11 


1-11 


409 


2 


21-39 


36 


6 


1-34 


169 


18 


1-35 


313 


i 


12, 13 


91 


11 


12-19 


416 


2 


40, 52 


55 


7 


1-29 


173 


19 


1-12 


386 




14 


128 


11 


20-33 


419 


2 


41-52 


65 


8 


1-4 


177 


19 


13-30 


390 




14,15 


141 


12 


1-12 
13-17 


419 


3 


1-18 


79 


8 


5-13 


221 


20 


1-16 


390 




16-34 


153 


12 


423 


3 


19,20 


128 


8 


14-17 


153 


20 


17-28 


397 




35-39 


159 


12 


18-40 


426 


3 


21-23 


86 


8 


19-22 


317 


20 


29-34 


400 




40-45 


177 


12 


41-44 


426 


3 


23-38 


5 


8 


18, 23-27 


257 


21 


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2 


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182 


13 


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432 


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91 


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261 1 


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416 


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186 


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153 


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12-16 


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232 


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110 
119 


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54,63-65 470 


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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: July 2005 

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